Karen's bookshelf: all en-US Sat, 03 May 2025 12:31:17 -0700 60 Karen's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg The Mighty Red 199793431
Gary Geist, a terrified young man set to inherit two farms, is desperate to marry Kismet Poe, an impulsive, lapsed Goth who can't read her future but seems to resolve his.

Hugo, a gentle red-haired, home-schooled giant, is also in love with Kismet. He’s determined to steal her and is eager to be a home wrecker.

Kismet's mother, Crystal, hauls sugar beets for Gary's family, and on her nightly runs, tunes into the darkness of late-night radio, sees visions of guardian angels, and worries for the future, her daughter’s and her own.

Human time, deep time, Red River time, the half-life of herbicides and pesticides, and the elegance of time represented in fracking core samples from unimaginable depths, is set against the speed of climate change, the depletion of natural resources, and the sudden economic meltdown of 2008-2009. How much does a dress cost? A used car? A package of cinnamon rolls? Can you see the shape of your soul in the everchanging clouds? Your personal salvation in the giant expanse of sky? These are the questions the people of the Red River Valley of the North wrestle with every day.

The Mighty Red is a novel of tender humor, disturbance, and hallucinatory mourning. It is about on-the-job pains and immeasurable satisfactions, a turbulent landscape, and eating the native weeds growing in your backyard. It is about ordinary people who dream, grow up, fall in love, struggle, endure tragedy, carry bitter secrets; men and women both complicated and contradictory, flawed and decent, lonely and hopeful. It is about a starkly beautiful prairie community whose members must cope with devastating consequences as powerful forces upend them. As with every book this great modern master writes, The Mighty Red is about our tattered bond with the earth, and about love in all of its absurdity and splendor.

A new novel by Louise Erdrich is a major literary event; gorgeous and heartrending, The Mighty Red is a triumph.]]> 384 Louise Erdrich 0063277050 Karen 4 3.78 2024 The Mighty Red
author: Louise Erdrich
name: Karen
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/05/03
date added: 2025/05/03
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]]> <![CDATA[On Muscle: The Stuff That Moves Us and Why It Matters]]> 217182346 From the bestselling author of Why We Swim comes a mind-expanding exploration of muscle—from our ancient obsession with the ideal human form to the modern science of this amazing and adaptable tissue—that will change the way you think about what moves us through the world.

“Remarkable . . . A singular book about the true meanings of strength and flexibility, about our ability to define who we are and who we might be.�
—Ed Yong, New York Times bestselling author of An Immense World and I Contain Multitudes

In On Muscle, Bonnie Tsui brings her signature blend of science, culture, immersive reporting, and personal narrative to examine not just what muscles are but what they mean to us. Cardiac, smooth, skeletal—these three different types of muscle in our bodies make our hearts beat; push food through our intestines, blood through our vessels, babies out the uterus; attach to our bones and allow for motion. Tsui also traces how muscles have defined beauty—and how they have distorted it—through the ages, and how they play an essential role in our physical and mental health.

Tsui introduces us to the first female weightlifter to pick up the famed Scottish Dinnie Stones, then takes us on a 50-mile run through the Nevada desert that follows the path of escape from a Native boarding school—and gives the concept of endurance new meaning. She travels to Oslo, where cutting-edge research reveals how muscles help us bounce back after injury and illness, an important aspect of longevity. She jumps into the action with a historic Double Dutch club in Washington, D.C., to explain anew what Charles Darwin meant by the brain-body connection. Woven throughout are stories of Tsui’s childhood with her Chinese immigrant artist dad—a black belt in karate—who schools her from a young age in a kind of quirky, in-house Muscle Academy.

On Muscle shows us the poetry in the physical, and the surprising ways muscle can reveal what we’re capable of.]]> 256 Bonnie Tsui 1643753088 Karen 0 to-read 4.09 On Muscle: The Stuff That Moves Us and Why It Matters
author: Bonnie Tsui
name: Karen
average rating: 4.09
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rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Woman in Cabin 10 (Lo Blacklock, #1)]]> 29918785 New York Times bestselling author of the “twisty-mystery� (Vulture) novel In a Dark, Dark Wood, comes The Woman in Cabin 10, an equally suspenseful and haunting novel from Ruth Ware—this time, set at sea.

In this tightly wound, enthralling story reminiscent of Agatha Christie’s works, Lo Blacklock, a journalist who writes for a travel magazine, has just been given the assignment of a lifetime: a week on a luxury cruise with only a handful of cabins. The sky is clear, the waters calm, and the veneered, select guests jovial as the exclusive cruise ship, the Aurora, begins her voyage in the picturesque North Sea. At first, Lo’s stay is nothing but pleasant: the cabins are plush, the dinner parties are sparkling, and the guests are elegant. But as the week wears on, frigid winds whip the deck, gray skies fall, and Lo witnesses what she can only describe as a dark and terrifying nightmare: a woman being thrown overboard. The problem? All passengers remain accounted for—and so, the ship sails on as if nothing has happened, despite Lo’s desperate attempts to convey that something (or someone) has gone terribly, terribly wrong�

With surprising twists, spine-tingling turns, and a setting that proves as uncomfortably claustrophobic as it is eerily beautiful, Ruth Ware offers up another taut and intense read in The Woman in Cabin 10—one that will leave even the most sure-footed reader restlessly uneasy long after the last page is turned.]]> 350 Ruth Ware 1501132946 Karen 0 currently-reading 3.80 2016 The Woman in Cabin 10 (Lo Blacklock, #1)
author: Ruth Ware
name: Karen
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/05/01
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]]> <![CDATA[The One That Got Away: A Short Story]]> 228639318 From bestselling author Mike Gayle, a story about exes and how to get over them. Or not.

Reuben thought he’d spend the rest of his life with Beth, until she broke his heart six months ago. He’s not even remotely over her, so he’s devastated to hear she’s getting married—this weekend.

Now he’s faced with the ultimate what should he do on the day of the wedding? Grieve? Disrupt the ceremony? Or do everything in his power to pretend it’s not happening?

Enlisting the help of his friends, Reuben is all set to mark the occasion with distraction on a grand Ferraris, champagne, and a VIP box at the races.

But on the morning of the Big Day, Reuben gets a phone call that not only derails his elaborate it may well change his life completely�

For fans of David Nicholls, Nick Hornby and the agony uncle of heartbreak himself, a story that just how far would you go to get over the love of your life?]]> 100 Mike Gayle 1662530285 Karen 4 3.52 The One That Got Away: A Short Story
author: Mike Gayle
name: Karen
average rating: 3.52
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/05/01
date added: 2025/05/01
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]]> <![CDATA[Nicole Rucker Fat and Flour Cookbook Inspired : 90+ Easy Recipes for Every Home Baker (Fat + Flour)]]> 231396171 Nicole Rucker Fat and Flour Cookbook Inspired is a delightful collection of 90+ easy, fuss-free recipes every home baker will love.

Inspired by the legendary pastry queen Nicole Rucker and her famous Fat + Flour bakery, author Caroline Elizabeth offers a heartfelt tribute packed with rustic pies, gooey cookies, tender cakes, and much more. This cookbook is designed for everyday bakers who want reliable results and bold, bakery-quality flavors—without the stress.


Inside You’ll 90+ tried-and-true recipes,

Cookies

Brownies

Loaf cakes

Fruit pies

Hand pies

Galettes

Custard pies

And more!

A spotlight on smart techniques like the Cold Butter Method for perfect texture every time

A seasonal celebration of fruits, spices, and comforting ingredients

Simple tips and pro advice for home bakers at any level

Whether you’re baking a Classic Apple Lattice Pie, mastering Boozy Banana Snickerdoodles, or slicing into a dreamy Zucchini Date Loaf, this cookbook invites you to mix, roll, and bake your way into something delicious.


Perfect of Nicole Rucker’s signature style

Beginner to intermediate bakers

Anyone craving nostalgic, no-fuss desserts with a modern twist

Caroline Elizabeth’s Nicole Rucker Fat and Flour Cookbook Inspired is more than a collection of recipes—it’s a celebration of flavor, fun, and the kind of baking that brings people together.]]> 238 Caroline Elizabeth Karen 0 to-read 0.0 Nicole Rucker Fat and Flour Cookbook Inspired : 90+ Easy Recipes for Every Home Baker (Fat + Flour)
author: Caroline Elizabeth
name: Karen
average rating: 0.0
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]]> The Sentence 56816904
Louise Erdrich's latest novel, The Sentence, asks what we owe to the living, the dead, to the reader and to the book. A small independent bookstore in Minneapolis is haunted from November 2019 to November 2020 by the store's most annoying customer. Flora dies on All Souls' Day, but she simply won't leave the store. Tookie, who has landed a job selling books after years of incarceration that she survived by reading with murderous attention, must solve the mystery of this haunting while at the same time trying to understand all that occurs in Minneapolis during a year of grief, astonishment, isolation, and furious reckoning.

The Sentence begins on All Souls' Day 2019 and ends on All Souls' Day 2020. Its mystery and proliferating ghost stories during this one year propel a narrative as rich, emotional, and profound as anything Louise Erdrich has written]]> 387 Louise Erdrich 006267112X Karen 0 to-read 3.92 2021 The Sentence
author: Louise Erdrich
name: Karen
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/30
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]]> <![CDATA[Be Ready When the Luck Happens]]> 209193632 In her long-awaited memoir, Ina Garten—aka the Barefoot Contessa, author of thirteen bestselling cookbooks, beloved Food Network personality, Instagram sensation, and cultural icon—shares her personal story with readers hungry for a seat at her table.

Here, for the first time, Ina Garten presents an intimate, entertaining, and inspiring account of her remarkable journey. Ina’s gift is to make everything look easy, yet all her accomplishments have been the result of hard work, audacious choices, and exquisite attention to detail. In her unmistakable voice (no one tells a story like Ina), she brings her past and her process to life in a high-spirited and no-holds-barred memoir that chronicles decades of personal challenges, adventures (and misadventures) and unexpected career twists, all delivered with her signature combination of playfulness and purpose.

From a difficult childhood to meeting the love of her life, Jeffrey, and marrying him while still in college, from a boring bureaucratic job in Washington, D.C., to answering an ad for a specialty food store in the Hamptons, from the owner of one Barefoot Contessa shop to author of bestselling cookbooks and celebrated television host, Ina has blazed her own trail and, in the meantime, taught millions of people how to cook and entertain. Now, she invites them to come closer to experience her story in vivid detail and to share the important life lessons she learned along the way: do what you love because if you love it you’ll be really good at it, swing for the fences, and always Be Ready When the Luck Happens.]]> 320 Ina Garten 0593799801 Karen 3 4.44 2024 Be Ready When the Luck Happens
author: Ina Garten
name: Karen
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/23
date added: 2025/04/23
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]]> All This Could Be Yours 222376586 All This Could Be Yours. In a different city every night, Tessa receives standing ovations from adoring fans while her husband Henry and their two children cheer her on from their brand-new dream house.

But there's a chilling problem with Tessa's triumphant book tour—she soon realizes she is being stalked by someone who's obsessed not only with sabotaging her career, but also with destroying her perfect family back home.

Tessa fears the fallout from an impossible decision she once made—what felt like a genuine deal with the devil—appears to be coming due. And she’s realizing that every high-stakes bargain comes with a high-stakes price. If Tessa can't untangle who's threatening to expose her darkest secrets, she'll lose her career, her family—and possibly her life.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.]]> 368 Hank Phillippi Ryan 1250349990 Karen 0 to-read 4.67 All This Could Be Yours
author: Hank Phillippi Ryan
name: Karen
average rating: 4.67
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/23
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]]> <![CDATA[Rough Beauty: Forty Seasons of Mountain Living]]> 40821067 In the bestselling tradition of Cheryl Strayed’s Wild and Helen MacDonald’s H Is for Hawk, Karen Auvinen, an award-winning poet, ventures into the wilderness to seek answers to life’s big questions with “candor [and] admirable courage� (Christian Science Monitor).

Determined to live an independent life on her own terms, Karen Auvinen flees to a primitive cabin in the Rockies to live in solitude as a writer and to embrace all the beauty and brutality nature has to offer. When a fire incinerates every word she has ever written and all of her possessions—except for her beloved dog Elvis, her truck, and a few singed artifacts—Karen embarks on a heroic journey to reconcile her desire to be alone with her need for community.

In the evocative spirit of works by Annie Dillard, Gretel Ehrlich, and Terry Tempest Williams, Karen’s “beautiful, contemplative…breathtaking [debut] memoir honors the wildness of the Rockies� (Publishers Weekly, starred review). �Rough Beauty offers a glimpse into a life that’s pared down to its essentials, open to unexpected, even profound, change� (Brevity Magazine), and Karen’s pursuit of solace and salvation through shedding trivial ties and living in close harmony with nature, along with her account of finding community and even love, is sure to resonate with all of us who long for meaning and deeper connection. An “outstanding…beautiful story of resilience� (Kirkus Reviews, starred review), Rough Beauty is a luminous, lyric exploration, “a narrative that reads like a captivating novel...a voice not found often enough in literature—a woman who eschews the prescribed role outlined for her by her family and discovers her own path� (Christian Science Monitor) to embrace the unpredictability and grace of living intimately with the forces of nature.]]> 320 Karen Auvinen 1501152297 Karen 0 to-read 3.88 2018 Rough Beauty: Forty Seasons of Mountain Living
author: Karen Auvinen
name: Karen
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/23
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]]> <![CDATA[The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife]]> 204158999 For readers of Remarkably Bright Creatures and A Man Called Ove, a warm, life-affirming debut about a zany case of mistaken identity that allows a lonely old man one last chance to be part of a family.

‘Would you mind terribly, old boy, if I borrowed the rest of your life? I promise I’ll take excellent care of it.'

Frederick Fife was born with an extra helping of kindness in his heart. If he borrowed your car, he’d return it washed with a full tank of gas. The problem is there’s nobody left in Fred’s life to borrow from. At eighty-two, he’s desperately lonely, broke, and on the brink of homelessness. But Fred’s luck changes when, in a bizarre case of mistaken identity, he takes the place of grumpy Bernard Greer at the local nursing home. Now he has warm meals in his belly and a roof over his head—as long as his poker face is in better shape than his prostate and that his look-alike never turns up.

Denise Simms is stuck breathing the same disappointing air again and again. A middle-aged mom and caregiver at Bernard's facility, her crumbling marriage and daughter's health concerns are suffocating her joy for life. Wounded by her two-faced husband, she vows never to let a man deceive her again.

As Fred walks in Bernard’s shoes, he leaves a trail of kindness behind him, fueling Denise's suspicions about his true identity. When unexpected truths are revealed, Fred and Denise rediscover their sense of purpose and learn how to return a broken life to mint condition.

Bittersweet and remarkably perceptive, The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife is a hilarious, feel-good, clever novel about grief, forgiveness, redemption, and finding family.]]> 336 Anna Johnston 0063397293 Karen 0 to-read 4.28 2024 The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife
author: Anna Johnston
name: Karen
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/19
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]]> Not Quite by the Book 213724356 A bookstore owner discovers that life as a recluse isn’t for everyone in this sharp yet sweet novel about how sometimes you need to abandon the quest for love to find your true passion.

Emma Rini is in a rut so deep she could shelve books there. While her sister awaits her first baby, and her parents kick off retirement with vow renewals and travel, Emma stays put among the stacks of the family bookshop.

In fact, she can’t remember the last time she took a vacation. Or had a romance that hovered above disappointing. When her parents assume she’ll take over the shop for them without a break, she realizes she needs to get away—back to the nineteenth century. Channeling her favorite poet recluse, Emily Dickinson, Emma rents a crumbling manor house outside Amherst where she can learn how to be quietly, blissfully alone.

But becoming a world-weary spinster isn’t easy. She can’t start a fire or reason with the bunnies that are destroying the garden. She finds herself sparring constantly with the grumpy-hot architect who is renovating the manor. And then there’s the secret admirer who keeps sending her complicated floral messages�

No matter what she does, the outside world keeps knocking, and Emma starts to dream about the future. Will she forgo love for the family legacy? And will she shrink away or become the sort of bold person fortune favors?]]> 317 Julie Hatcher 1662523459 Karen 0 return-to 3.85 2025 Not Quite by the Book
author: Julie Hatcher
name: Karen
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/14
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]]> <![CDATA[The Griffin Sisters' Greatest Hits]]> 215768414
On the brink of adulthood in the early 2000s, destiny intervened, catapulting the sisters into the spotlight as the pop sensation the Griffin Sisters, hitting all the touchstones of early aughts fame—SNL, MTV, Rolling Stone magazine—along the way.

But after a whirlwind year in the public eye, the band abruptly broke up.

Two decades later, Zoe’s a housewife; Cassie’s off the grid. The sisters aren’t speaking, and the real reason for the Griffin Sisters� breakup is still a mystery. Zoe’s teenage daughter, Cherry, who’s determined to be a star in spite of Zoe’s warnings, is on a quest to learn the truth about what happened to the band all those years ago.

As secrets emerge, all three women must face the consequences of their choices: the ones they made and the ones the music industry made for them. Can they forgive each other—and themselves? And will the Griffin Sisters ever make music again?]]> 384 Jennifer Weiner 0063342448 Karen 0 to-read 3.90 2025 The Griffin Sisters' Greatest Hits
author: Jennifer Weiner
name: Karen
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/14
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]]> <![CDATA[Vicious Circle (Joe Pickett, #17)]]> 31133732 The past comes back to haunt game warden Joe Pickett and his family with devastating effect in the thrilling new novel from the #1 New York Times–bestselling author.

The plane circled in the dark. Joe Pickett could just make out down below a figure in the snow and timber, and then three other figures closing in. There was nothing he could do about it. And Joe knew that he might be their next target.
The Cates family had always been a bad lot. Game warden Joe Pickett had been able to strike a fierce blow against them when the life of his daughter April had been endangered, but he’d always wondered if there’d be a day of reckoning. He’s not wondering any longer. Joe knows they’re coming after him and his family now. He has his friend Nate by his side, but will that be enough this time? All he can do is prepare . . . and wait for them to make the first move.]]> 377 C.J. Box Karen 3 4.48 2017 Vicious Circle (Joe Pickett, #17)
author: C.J. Box
name: Karen
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2017
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/13
date added: 2025/04/13
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]]> <![CDATA[I Feel Bad About My Neck and Other Thoughts on Being a Woman]]> 8765
The woman who brought us "When Harry Met Sally"..., "Sleepless in Seattle", "You've Got Mail", and "Bewitched," and the author of best sellers "Heartburn," "Scribble Scribble," and "Crazy Salad," discusses everything -from how much she hates her purse to how much time she spends attempting to stop the clock: the hair dye, the treadmill, the lotions and creams that promise to slow the aging process but never do. Oh, and she can't stand the way her neck looks. But her dermatologist tells her there's no quick fix for that.

Ephron chronicles her life as an obsessed cook, passionate city dweller, and hapless parent. She recounts her anything-but-glamorous days as a White House intern during the JFK years ("I am probably the only young woman who ever worked in the Kennedy White House that the President did not make a pass at") and shares how she fell in and out of love with Bill Clinton - from a distance, of course. But mostly she speaks frankly and uproariously about life as a woman of a certain age.

Utterly courageous, wickedly funny, and unexpectedly moving in its truth telling, "I Feel Bad About My Neck" is a book of wisdom, advice, and laugh-out-loud moments, a scrumptious, irresistible treat.]]> 139 Nora Ephron 0307264556 Karen 0 currently-reading 3.72 2006 I Feel Bad About My Neck and Other Thoughts on Being a Woman
author: Nora Ephron
name: Karen
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2006
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/10
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]]> Wild Dark Shore 211051083 From the beloved, New York Times bestselling author of Migrations and Once There Were Wolves, a novel about a family living alone on a remote island, when a mysterious woman washes up on shore

A family on a remote island. A mysterious woman washed ashore. A rising storm on the horizon.

Dominic Salt and his three children are caretakers of Shearwater, a tiny island not far from Antarctica. Home to the world’s largest seed bank, Shearwater was once full of researchers. But with sea levels rising, the Salts are now its final inhabitants, packing up the seeds before they are transported to safer ground. Despite the wild beauty, isolation has taken its toll on the Salts. Raff, eighteen and suffering his first heartbreak, can only find relief at his punching bag; Fen, seventeen, has started spending her nights on the beach among the seals; nine-year-old Orly, obsessed with botany, fears the loss of his beloved natural world; and Dominic can’t stop turning back toward the past, and the loss that drove the family to Shearwater in the first place.

Then, during the worst storm the island has ever seen, a woman washes up on shore. As the Salts nurse the woman, Rowan, back to life, their suspicion gives way to affection, and they finally begin to feel like a family again. Rowan, long accustomed to protecting her heart, begins to fall for the Salts, too. But Rowan isn’t telling the whole truth about why she set out for Shearwater. And when she discovers the sabotaged radios and a freshly dug grave, she realizes Dominic is keeping his own dark secrets. As the storms on Shearwater gather force, can they trust each other enough to protect one another—and the precious seeds in their care? And can they finally put the tragedies of the past behind them to create something new, together?

A novel of heart-stopping twists, dizzying beauty, and ferocious love, Wild Dark Shore is about the impossible choices we make to protect the people we love, even as the world around us is ending.]]> 307 Charlotte McConaghy 125082799X Karen 5 4.37 2025 Wild Dark Shore
author: Charlotte McConaghy
name: Karen
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2025
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/31
date added: 2025/04/02
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]]> Meet Me on the Bridge 201760211 Can true love ever survive across time?

Everyone says falling in love is supposed to be easy. But what happens when you meet the perfect man…in your dreams?

Especially when you find out he was real and died one year ago � on the bridge you had agreed to meet on for your first date. Wouldn’t you try to go back in time and change the course of destiny to create your very own happy-ever-after?

But the path to true love is never without complications, and meddling with the past can have unexpected consequences�

The must-read time travel romance for fans of Maybe in Another Life, Sliding Doors and About Time.]]> 377 Sarah J. Harris 1662518838 Karen 0 to-read 4.01 2024 Meet Me on the Bridge
author: Sarah J. Harris
name: Karen
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/29
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]]> <![CDATA[The Summer Guests (The Martini Club, #2)]]> 199223892 From New York Times bestselling author Tess Gerritsen comes a chilling follow-up to The Spy Coast, plunging the Martini Club into the search for a missing teen—with a startling connection to their own pasts.

When former spy Maggie Bird retired to the seaside hamlet of Purity, Maine, she settled in for a quiet life with breathtaking views. But enemies from her past soon threatened to destroy everything.

Maggie survived, thanks to her wits and the collective intelligence of the Martini Club, the circle of ex-CIA friends in her cocktail-sipping book club. Their handiwork, however, caught the attention of young police chief Jo Thibodeau. Now Jo and her neighborhood ex-spies have an uneasy alliance.

After a teenager vanishes—and Maggie’s neighbor becomes the prime suspect—she joins the investigation, determined to prove her friend’s innocence. But the girl’s wealthy family pushes for an arrest. And when authorities discover a long-dead corpse in a nearby pond, the case becomes doubly complicated, with unthinkable ties to long-buried secrets.

As Jo grapples with two unexplained mysteries, the Martini Club races to uncover the truth behind shadowy secrets…before more lives are lost.]]> 363 Tess Gerritsen 1662515154 Karen 4 4.38 2025 The Summer Guests (The Martini Club, #2)
author: Tess Gerritsen
name: Karen
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/24
date added: 2025/03/24
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]]> <![CDATA[Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism]]> 223436601 An explosive memoir charting one woman’s career at the heart of one of the most influential companies on the planet, Careless People gives you a front-row seat to Facebook, the decisions that have shaped world events in recent decades, and the people who made them.

From trips on private jets and encounters with world leaders to shocking accounts of misogyny and double standards behind the scenes, this searing memoir exposes both the personal and the political fallout when unfettered power and a rotten company culture take hold. In a gripping and often absurd narrative where a few people carelessly hold the world in their hands, this eye-opening memoir reveals what really goes on among the global elite.

Sarah Wynn-Williams tells the wrenching but fun story of Facebook, mapping its rise from stumbling encounters with juntas to Mark Zuckerberg’s reaction when he learned of Facebook’s role in Trump’s election. She experiences the challenges and humiliations of working motherhood within a pressure cooker of a workplace, all while Sheryl Sandberg urges her and others to “lean in.�

Careless People is a deeply personal account of why and how things have gone so horribly wrong in the past decade—told in a sharp, candid, and utterly disarming voice. A deep, unflinching look at the role that social media has assumed in our lives, Careless People reveals the truth about the leaders of Facebook: how the more power they grasp, the less responsible they become and the consequences this has for all of us.]]> 382 Sarah Wynn-Williams 1250391237 Karen 0 to-read 4.29 2025 Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism
author: Sarah Wynn-Williams
name: Karen
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/23
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]]> <![CDATA[Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter]]> 40526225 Eager is a powerful story about one of the world’s most influential species, how North America was colonized, how our landscapes have changed over the centuries, and how beavers can help us fight drought, flooding, wildfire, extinction, and the ravages of climate change. Ultimately, it’s about how we can learn to coexist, harmoniously and even beneficially, with our fellow travelers on this planet.

WINNER of the 2019 PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award



Washington Post �50 Notable Works of Nonfiction�



Science News “Favorite Science Books of 2018�



Booklist “Top Ten Science/Technology Book of 2018�



"A marvelously humor-laced page-turner about the science of semi-aquatic rodents�. A masterpiece of a treatise on the natural world.”�The Washington Post



In

]]> 387 Ben Goldfarb 1603587403 Karen 5 4.36 2018 Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter
author: Ben Goldfarb
name: Karen
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/17
date added: 2025/03/17
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Motorcycle Diaries: Notes on a Latin American Journey]]> 172732
This new, expanded edition features exclusive, unpublished photos taken by the 23-year-old Ernesto on his journey across a continent, and a tender preface by Aleida Guevara, offering an insightful perspective on the man and the icon.

Features of this edition include:

A preface by Che Guevara’s daughter Aleida
Introduction by Cintio Vintier, well-known Latin American poet
Photos & maps from the original journey
Postcript: Che’s personal reflections on his formative years: “A child of my environment.�

Published in association with the Che Guevara Studies Center, Havana

]]> 175 Ernesto Che Guevara 1876175702 Karen 0 to-read 3.81 1992 The Motorcycle Diaries: Notes on a Latin American Journey
author: Ernesto Che Guevara
name: Karen
average rating: 3.81
book published: 1992
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/12
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]]> The Man Who Listens to Horses 8515 352 Monty Roberts 034542705X Karen 0 to-read 4.14 1997 The Man Who Listens to Horses
author: Monty Roberts
name: Karen
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1997
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II]]> 40595446 The never-before-told story of one woman's heroism that changed the course of the Second World War

In 1942, the Gestapo sent out an urgent transmission: "She is the most dangerous of all Allied spies. We must find and destroy her."

This spy was Virginia Hall, a young American woman--rejected from the foreign service because of her gender and her prosthetic leg--who talked her way into the spy organization deemed Churchill's "ministry of ungentlemanly warfare," and, before the United States had even entered the war, became the first woman to deploy to occupied France.

Virginia Hall was one of the greatest spies in American history, yet her story remains untold. Just as she did in Clementine, Sonia Purnell uncovers the captivating story of a powerful, influential, yet shockingly overlooked heroine of the Second World War. At a time when sending female secret agents into enemy territory was still strictly forbidden, Virginia Hall came to be known as the "Madonna of the Resistance," coordinating a network of spies to blow up bridges, report on German troop movements, arrange equipment drops for Resistance agents, and recruit and train guerilla fighters. Even as her face covered WANTED posters throughout Europe, Virginia refused order after order to evacuate. She finally escaped with her life in a grueling hike over the Pyrenees into Spain, her cover blown, and her associates all imprisoned or executed. But, adamant that she had "more lives to save," she dove back in as soon as she could, organizing forces to sabotage enemy lines and back up Allied forces landing on Normandy beaches. Told with Purnell's signature insight and novelistic flare, A Woman of No Importance is the breathtaking story of how one woman's fierce persistence helped win the war.]]> 352 Sonia Purnell 073522529X Karen 0 to-read 4.08 2019 A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II
author: Sonia Purnell
name: Karen
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2019
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]]> The King's Speech 9755737
Logue wasn't a British aristocrat or even an Englishman - he was a commoner and an Australian to boot. Nevertheless it was the outgoing, amiable Logue who single-handedly turned the nervous, tongue-tied Duke of York into one of Britain's greatest kings after his brother, Edward VIII, abdicated in 1936 over his love of Mrs Simpson.

This is the previously untold story of the remarkable relationship between Logue and the haunted future King George VI, written with Logue's grandson and drawing exclusively from his grandfather Lionel's diaries and archive. It throws an extraordinary light on the intimacy of the two men, and the vital role the King's wife, the late Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, played in bringing them together to save her husband's reputation and reign.

'The King's Speech: How One Man Saved the British Monarchy' is an astonishing insight into a private world. Logue's diaries also reveal, for the first time, the torment the future King suffered at the hands of his father George V because of his stammer. Never before has there been such a personal portrait of the British monarchy - at a time of its greatest crisis - seen through the eyes of an Australian commoner who was proud to serve, and save, his King.]]> 242 Mark Logue 0857381105 Karen 0 to-read 3.68 2010 The King's Speech
author: Mark Logue
name: Karen
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2010
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]]> Mornings on Horseback 2368 Mornings on Horseback: The Story of an Extraordinary Family, a Vanished Way of Life, and the Unique Child Who Became Theodore Roosevelt is the brilliant biography of the young Theodore Roosevelt. Hailed as a masterpiece by Newsday, it also won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Biography. Now with a new introduction by the author, Mornings on Horseback is reprinted as a Simon & Schuster Classic Edition.

Mornings on Horseback is about the world of the young Theodore Roosevelt. It is the story of a remarkable little boy, seriously handicapped by recurrent and nearly fatal attacks of asthma, and his struggle to manhood: an amazing metamorphosis seen in the context of the very uncommon household (and rarefied social world) in which he was raised.

His father is the first Theodore Roosevelt, "Greatheart," a figure of unbounded energy, enormously attractive and selfless, a god in the eyes of his small, frail namesake. His mother, Mittie Bulloch Roosevelt, is a Southerner and celebrated beauty, but also considerably more, which the book makes clear as never before. There are sisters Anna and Corinne, brother Elliott (who becomes the father of Eleanor Roosevelt), and the lovely, tragic Alice Lee, Teddy Roosevelt's first love. And while such disparate figures as Abraham Lincoln, Mrs. John Jacob Astor, and Senator Roscoe Conkling play a part, it is this diverse and intensely human assemblage of Roosevelts, all brought to vivid life, which gives the book its remarkable power.

The book spans seventeen years � from 1869 when little "Teedie" is ten, to 1886 when, as a hardened "real life cowboy," he returns from the West to pick up the pieces of a shattered life and begin anew, a grown man, whole in body and spirit. The story does for Teddy Roosevelt what Sunrise at Campobello did for FDR � reveals the inner man through his battle against dreadful odds.

Like David McCullough's The Great Bridge, also set in New York, this is at once an enthralling story, with all the elements of a great novel, and a penetrating character study. It is brilliant social history and a work of important scholarship, which does away with several old myths and breaks entirely new ground. For the first time, for example, Roosevelt's asthma is examined closely, drawing on information gleaned from private Roosevelt family papers and in light of present-day knowledge of the disease and its psychosomatic aspects.

At heart it is a book about life intensely lived...about family love and family loyalty...about courtship and childbirth and death, fathers and sons...about winter on the Nile in the grand manner and Harvard College...about gutter politics in washrooms and the tumultuous Republican Convention of 1884...about grizzly bears, grief and courage, and "blessed" mornings on horseback at Oyster Bay or beneath the limitless skies of the Badlands. "Black care rarely sits behind a rider whose pace is fast enough," Roosevelt once wrote. It is the key to his life and to much that is so memorable in this magnificent book.

]]> 445 David McCullough 0671447548 Karen 0 to-read 4.09 1981 Mornings on Horseback
author: David McCullough
name: Karen
average rating: 4.09
book published: 1981
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]]> <![CDATA[Undaunted Courage: The Pioneering First Mission to Explore America's Wild Frontier]]> 45546 592 Stephen E. Ambrose 074347788X Karen 0 to-read 4.21 1996 Undaunted Courage: The Pioneering First Mission to Explore America's Wild Frontier
author: Stephen E. Ambrose
name: Karen
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1996
rating: 0
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]]> Don't Let Him In 220160814 From #1 New York Times bestseller Lisa Jewell, an author “at the very top of her game� (Lucy Foley)—three women are connected by one man in this kaleidoscopic thriller.

“Who are you? Who are you really?�

Nick Radcliffe is a man of substance and good taste. He has a smile that could melt the coldest heart and a knack for putting others at ease. He’s just what Nina Swann needed in her life after her husband’s unexpected death. But to Nina’s adult daughter, Ash, Nick seems too slick, too polished, too good to be true. Without telling her mother, Ash begins digging into Nick’s past. What she finds is more than unsettling�

“Because there are things that don’t make sense, and I’ve been so patient, so very patient…�

Martha is a florist living in a neighboring town with her infant daughter and her devoted husband Alistair. But lately, Alistair has been traveling more and more frequently for work, disappearing for days at a time. When Martha questions him about his frequent absences, he always has a legitimate explanation, but Martha can’t share the feeling that something isn't right.

“You know that’s mad, don’t you? I’m your husband. We know everything there is to know about each other.�

Nina, Martha, and Ash are on a collision course with a shocking truth that is far darker than anyone could have imagined. And all three are about to wish they had heeded the same warning: Don’t let him in. But the past won’t stay buried forever.]]> 368 Lisa Jewell 1668033879 Karen 0 to-read 3.99 2025 Don't Let Him In
author: Lisa Jewell
name: Karen
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2025
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]]> Book Lovers 58708383 One summer. Two rivals. A plot twist they didn't see coming....

Nora Stephens� life is books—she’s read them all—and she is not that type of heroine. Not the plucky one, not the laidback dream girl, and especially not the sweetheart. In fact, the only people Nora is a heroine for are her clients, for whom she lands enormous deals as a cutthroat literary agent, and her beloved little sister Libby.

Which is why she agrees to go to Sunshine Falls, North Carolina for the month of August when Libby begs her for a sisters� trip away—with visions of a small-town transformation for Nora, who she’s convinced needs to become the heroine in her own story. But instead of picnics in meadows, or run-ins with a handsome country doctor or bulging-forearmed bartender, Nora keeps bumping into Charlie Lastra, a bookish brooding editor from back in the city. It would be a meet-cute if not for the fact that they’ve met many times and it’s never been cute.

If Nora knows she’s not an ideal heroine, Charlie knows he’s nobody’s hero, but as they are thrown together again and again—in a series of coincidences no editor worth their salt would allow—what they discover might just unravel the carefully crafted stories they’ve written about themselves.]]> 398 Emily Henry Karen 5 4.27 2022 Book Lovers
author: Emily Henry
name: Karen
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/04
date added: 2025/03/07
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]]> <![CDATA[Force of Nature (Aaron Falk, #2)]]> 59139044 Only four come out on the other side.
The hike through the rugged Giralang Ranges is meant to take the office colleagues out of their air-conditioned comfort zone and encourage teamwork and resilience. At least, that's what the corporate retreat website advertises.
Federal Police investigator Aaron Falk has a keen interest in the whereabouts of the missing hiker, Alice Russell. Because Alice knew secrets, about the company she worked for and the people she worked with.
The four returning women tell Falk a tale of fear, violence and fractured trust during their days in the remote Australian bushland. And as Falk delves into the disappearance of Alice, he begins to suspect some dangers ran far deeper than anyone knew.]]> 335 Jane Harper Karen 0 4.10 2017 Force of Nature (Aaron Falk, #2)
author: Jane Harper
name: Karen
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Indigenous Continent: The Epic Contest for North America]]> 60215300
Yet as with other long-accepted origin stories, this one, too, turns out to be based in myth and distortion. In Indigenous Continent, acclaimed historian Pekka Hämäläinen presents a sweeping counternarrative that shatters the most basic assumptions about American history. Shifting our perspective away from Jamestown, Plymouth Rock, the Revolution, and other well-trodden episodes on the conventional timeline, he depicts a sovereign world of Native nations whose members, far from helpless victims of colonial violence, dominated the continent for centuries after the first European arrivals.

From the Iroquois in the Northeast to the Comanches on the Plains, and from the Pueblos in the Southwest to the Cherokees in the Southeast, Native nations frequently decimated white newcomers in battle. Even as the white population exploded and colonists� land greed grew more extravagant, Indigenous peoples flourished due to sophisticated diplomacy and leadership structures.

By 1776, various colonial powers claimed nearly all of the continent, but Indigenous peoples still controlled it—as Hämäläinen points out, the maps in modern textbooks that paint much of North America in neat, color-coded blocks confuse outlandish imperial boasts for actual holdings. In fact, Native power peaked in the late nineteenth century, with the Lakota victory in 1876 at Little Big Horn, which was not an American blunder, but an all-too-expected outcome.

Hämäläinen ultimately contends that the very notion of “colonial America� is misleading, and that we should speak instead of an “Indigenous America� that was only slowly and unevenly becoming colonial. The evidence of Indigenous defiance is apparent today in the hundreds of Native nations that still dot the United States and Canada. Necessary reading for anyone who cares about America’s past, present, and future, Indigenous Continent restores Native peoples to their rightful place at the very fulcrum of American history.]]> 592 Pekka Hämäläinen 1631496999 Karen 0 return-to 4.00 2022 Indigenous Continent: The Epic Contest for North America
author: Pekka Hämäläinen
name: Karen
average rating: 4.00
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]]> <![CDATA[The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2024]]> 206728555 Award-winning environmentalist, author, and journalistBill McKibben selects twenty science and nature essays that represent the best examples of the form published in the previous year.

A collection of the best science and nature articles published in 2023, selected by guest editor Bill McKibben and series editor Jaime Green.]]> 327 Bill McKibben 0063334003 Karen 0 return-to 4.17 The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2024
author: Bill McKibben
name: Karen
average rating: 4.17
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]]> Show Don't Tell 213870083 A funny, fiercely intelligent, and moving collection exploring marriage, friendship, fame, and artistic ambition—including a story that revisits the main character from Curtis Sittenfeld’s iconic novel Prep—from the New York Times bestselling author of Eligible and Romantic Comedy

In her second story collection, Sittenfeld shows why she’s as beloved for her short fiction as she is for her novels. In these dazzling stories, she conjures up characters so real that they seem like old friends, laying bare the moments when their long held beliefs are overturned.

In “The Patron Saints of Middle Age,� a woman visits two friends she hasn’t seen since her divorce. In “A for Alone,� a married artist embarks on a creative project intended to disprove the so-called Mike Pence Rule, which suggests that women and men can’t spend time alone together without lusting after each other. And in “Lost but Not Forgotten,� Sittenfeld gives readers of her novel Prep a window into the world of her beloved character Lee Fiora, decades later, when Lee attends an alumni reunion at her boarding school.

Hilarious, thought-provoking, and full of tenderness for her characters, Sittenfeld’s stories peel back layer after layer of our inner lives, keeping us riveted to the page with her utterly distinctive voice.]]> 320 Curtis Sittenfeld 0593446739 Karen 0 to-read 3.92 2025 Show Don't Tell
author: Curtis Sittenfeld
name: Karen
average rating: 3.92
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]]> <![CDATA[Ottolenghi Comfort: A Cookbook]]> 205900859 The New York Times bestselling author of Ottolenghi Flavor reimagines comfort food withover 100 global, personal recipes.

Yotam Ottolenghi—the beloved chef who has captured the hearts of homecooks looking for inspiration and great-tasting cooking—is back. In Ottolenghi Comfort, he brings his inspiring, flavor-forward cooking to comfort dishes.

With game-changing low-lift recipes as well as recipes to spend an afternoon on, Ottolenghi Comfort presents creative dishes that are comfortable to both cook and eat. In more than 100 recipes, Ottolenghi—and co-authorsHelen Goh, Verena Lochmuller, and Tara Wigley—bring together childhood memories and travels around the world, celebrating food and friends and the connections they build together, ones to pass on from generation to generation.

For Ottolenghi, a bowl of pasta becomes Caramelized Onion Orecchiette with Hazelnuts & Crispy Sage, a warming soup is Cheesy Bread Soup with Savoy Cabbage & Cavolo Nero, and potatoes are transformed into Garlicky Aligot Potato with Leeks & Thyme. In Comfort, he tackles everything from crepes to hummus; lamb meatloaf to quick ramen; savory rugelah to chocolate mousse.

This is a book filled with meals that are easy and exciting, familiar and fresh, new and nostalgic, revelatory yet reassuring.]]> 297 Yotam Ottolenghi 0399581782 Karen 0 currently-reading 3.76 2024 Ottolenghi Comfort: A Cookbook
author: Yotam Ottolenghi
name: Karen
average rating: 3.76
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]]> The Fall Risk 223199392 Two good neighbors make the best of a bad Valentine’s Day in a funny and improbably romantic short story by the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Just for the Summer.

It’s Valentine’s Day weekend, and Charlotte and Seth are not looking for romance. Armed with emotional-support bear spray, Charlotte is in self-imposed isolation and on guard from men. Having a stalker can do that to a person’s nerves. Just across the hall and giving off woodsy vibes is Seth, a recently divorced arborist. As in today recently. Heights, he’s fine with. Trust? Not so much. But when disaster traps them one flight up and no way down, an outrageously precarious predicament forces a tree-loving guy and a rattled girl next door to embrace their captivity. Soon their defenses are breaking away. Considering how close they both are to the edge, Charlotte and Seth could be in danger of falling—in love.]]> 82 Abby Jimenez 1662529082 Karen 3 4.11 2025 The Fall Risk
author: Abby Jimenez
name: Karen
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2025
rating: 3
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]]> The Searcher 52699692 464 Tana French 0735224668 Karen 5 4.10 2020 The Searcher
author: Tana French
name: Karen
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/17
date added: 2025/02/17
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]]> Isola 213047729 A young woman and her lover are marooned on an island in this epic saga of love, faith, and defiance from the bestselling author of Sam.

Heir to a fortune, Marguerite is destined for a life of prosperity and gentility. Then she is orphaned, and her guardian—an enigmatic and volatile man—spends her inheritance and insists she accompany him on an expedition to New France. Isolated and afraid, Marguerite befriends her guardian’s servant and the two develop an intense attraction. But when their relationship is discovered, they are brutally punished and abandoned on a small island with no hope for rescue.

Once a child of privilege who dressed in gowns and laced pearls in her hair, Marguerite finds herself at the mercy of nature. As the weather turns, blanketing the island in ice, she discovers a faith she’d never before needed.

Inspired by the real life of a sixteenth-century heroine, Isola is the timeless story of a woman fighting for survival.]]> 368 Allegra Goodman 0593730097 Karen 0 to-read 4.22 2025 Isola
author: Allegra Goodman
name: Karen
average rating: 4.22
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]]> <![CDATA[To Free the Captives: A Plea for the American Soul]]> 112974900
“A vulnerable, honest look at a life lived in a country still struggling with its evils...Hopeful...Beautiful and haunting.� —Eddie S. Glaude Jr., author of Begin Again

In 2020, heartsick from constant assaults on Black life, Tracy K. Smith found herself soul-searching and digging into the historical archive for help navigating the “din of human division and strife.� With lyricism and urgency, Smith draws on several avenues of thinking—personal, documentary, and spiritual—to understand who we are as a nation and what we might hope to mean to one another.

In Smith’s own words, “To write a book about Black strength, Black continuance, and the powerful forms of belief and community that have long bolstered the soul of my people, I used the generations of my own patrilineal family to lean backward toward history, to gather a fuller sense of the lives my own ancestors led, the challenges they endured, and the sources of hope and bolstering they counted on. What this process has led me to believe is that all of us, in the here and now, can choose to work alongside the generations that precede us in tending to America’s oldest wounds and meeting the urgencies of our present.�

To Free the Captives touches down in Sunflower, Alabama, the red-dirt town where Smith’s father’s family comes from, and where her grandfather returned after World War I with a hero’s record but difficult prospects as a Black man. Smith considers his life and the life of her father through the lens of history. Hoping to connect with their strength and continuance, she assembles a new terminology of American life.

Bearing courageous witness to the terms of Freedom afforded her as a Black woman, a mother, and an educator in the twenty-first century, Smith etches a portrait of where we find ourselves four hundred years into the American experiment. Weaving in an account of her growing spiritual practice, she argues that the soul is not merely a private site of respite or transcendence, but a tool for fulfilling our duties to each other, and a sounding board for our most pressing collective Where are we going as a nation? Where have we been?]]> 288 Tracy K. Smith 059353476X Karen 0 to-read 3.98 2023 To Free the Captives: A Plea for the American Soul
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name: Karen
average rating: 3.98
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]]> The Message 210943364
The first of the book’s three intertwining essays is set in Dakar, Senegal. Despite being raised as a strict Afrocentrist, Coates had never set foot on the African continent until now. He roams the “steampunk� city of “old traditions and new machinery,� but everywhere he goes he feels as if he’s in two places at once: a modern city in Senegal and a mythic kingdom in his mind. Finally he travels to the slave castles off the coast and has his own reckoning with the legacy of the Afrocentric dream.

He takes readers along with him to Columbia, South Carolina, where he meets an educator whose job is threatened for teaching one of Coates’s own books. There he discovers a community of mostly white supporters who were transformed by the “racial reckoning� of 2020. But he also explores the backlash to this reckoning and the deeper myths of the community—a capital of the confederacy with statues of segregationists looming over its public squares.

And in Palestine, Coates discovers the devastating gap between the narratives we’ve accepted and the clashing reality of life on the ground. He meets with activists and dissidents, Israelis and Palestinians—the old, who remember their dispossessions on two continents, and the young, who have only known struggle and disillusionment. He travels into Jerusalem, the heart of Zionist mythology, and to the occupied territories, where he sees the reality the myth is meant to hide. It is this hidden story that draws him in and profoundly changes him—and makes the war that would soon come all the more devastating.

Written at a dramatic moment in American and global life, this work from one of the country’s most important writers is about the urgent need to untangle ourselves from the destructive nationalist myths that shape our world—and our own souls—and embrace the liberating power of even the most difficult truths.]]> 232 Ta-Nehisi Coates 0593230388 Karen 0 to-read 4.51 2024 The Message
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name: Karen
average rating: 4.51
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]]> Memorial Days 212806569 A heartrending and beautiful memoir of sudden loss and a journey topeace, from the bestselling, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of�Horse

Many cultural and religious traditions expect those who are grieving to step away from the world. In contemporary life, we are more often met with red tape and to-do lists. This is exactly what happened to Geraldine Brooks when her partner of more than three decades, Tony Horwitz � just sixty years old and, to her knowledge, vigorous and healthy � collapsed and died on a Washington, D. C. sidewalk.

After spending their early years together in conflict zones as foreign correspondents, Geraldine and Tony settled down to raise two boys on Martha’s Vineyard. The life they built was one of meaningful work, good humor, and tenderness, as they spent their days writing and their evenings cooking family dinners or watching the sun set with friends at Lambert’s Cove. But all of this came to an abrupt end when, on Memorial Day 2019, Geraldine received the phone call we all dread. The demands were immediate and many. Without space to grieve, the sudden loss became a yawning gulf.

Three years later, she booked a flight to a remote island off the coast of Australia with the intention of finally giving herself the time to mourn. In a shack on a pristine, rugged coast she often went days without seeing another person. There, she pondered the varied waysthose ofother cultures grieve, such as the people of Australia's First Nations, the Balinese, and the Iranian Shiites, and what rituals of her own might help to rebuild a life around the void of Tony's death.

A spare and profoundly moving memoir that joins the classics of the genre, Memorial Days is a portrait of a larger-than-life man and a timeless love between soulsthat exquisitely captures the joy, agony, and mystery of life.]]> 224 Geraldine Brooks 059365398X Karen 0 to-read 4.34 2025 Memorial Days
author: Geraldine Brooks
name: Karen
average rating: 4.34
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]]> <![CDATA[Hooked: How Crafting Saved My Life]]> 57094697
Whether she’s playing an “age-defying� book editor on television or dazzling audiences on the Broadway stage, Sutton Foster manages to make it all look easy. How? Crafting . From the moment she picked up a cross stitch needle to escape the bullying chorus girls in her early performing days, she was hooked. Cross stitching led to crocheting, crocheting led to collages, which led to drawing, and so much more. Channeling her emotions into her creations centered Sutton as she navigated the significant moments in her life and gave her tangible reminders of her experiences. Now, in this charming and poignant collection, Sutton shares those moments, including her fraught relationship with her agoraphobic mother; a painful divorce splashed on the pages of the tabloids; her struggles with fertility; the thrills she found on the stage during hit plays like Thoroughly Modern Millie, Anything Goes , and Violet ; her breakout TV role in Younger ; and the joy of adopting her daughter, Emily. Accompanying the stories, Sutton has included crochet patterns, recipes, and so much more!

Witty and poignant, Hooked will leave readers entertained as well as inspire them to pick up their own cross stitch needles and paintbrushes.]]> 235 Sutton Foster 1538734281 Karen 0 to-read 4.08 2021 Hooked: How Crafting Saved My Life
author: Sutton Foster
name: Karen
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2021
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]]> Last Twilight in Paris 212378273
London, 1953. Louise is still adjusting to her postwar role as a housewife when she discovers a necklace in a box at a secondhand shop. The box is marked with the name of a department store in Paris, and she is certain she has seen the necklace before when she worked with the Red Cross in Nazi-occupied Europe —and that it holds the key to the mysterious death of her friend Franny during the war.

Following the trail of clues to Paris, Louise seeks help from her former boss Ian, with whom she shares a romantic history. The necklace leads them to discover the dark history of Lévitan—a once-glamorous department store that served as a Nazi prison, and Helaine, a woman who was imprisoned there, torn apart from her husband when the Germans invaded France.

Louise races to find the connection between the necklace, the department store and Franny’s death. But nothing is as it seems, and there are forces determined to keep the truth buried forever. Inspired by the true story of Lévitan, Last Twilight in Paris is both a gripping mystery and an unforgettable story about sacrifice, resistance and the power of love to transcend in even the darkest hours.]]> 336 Pam Jenoff 0778307980 Karen 0 to-read 3.94 2025 Last Twilight in Paris
author: Pam Jenoff
name: Karen
average rating: 3.94
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]]> Gravity 8703193 Harvest, Life Support, and Bloodstream.

Gravity

Dr. Emma Watson has been training for the adventure of a lifetime: to study living beings in space. But her mission aboard the International Space Station turns into a nightmare beyond imagining when a culture of single-celled organisms begins to regenerate out of control -- and infects the space station crew with agonizing and deadly results. Emma struggles to contain the outbreak while back on Earth her estranged husband, Jack McCallum, works frantically with NASA to bring her home. But there will be no rescue. The contagion now threatens Earth's population, and the astronauts are stranded in orbit, quarantined aboard the station -- where they are dying one by one...]]> 404 Tess Gerritsen Karen 4 4.41 1983 Gravity
author: Tess Gerritsen
name: Karen
average rating: 4.41
book published: 1983
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/04
date added: 2025/02/04
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]]> Winter Garden 51850984 401 Kristin Hannah Karen 4 4.51 2010 Winter Garden
author: Kristin Hannah
name: Karen
average rating: 4.51
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at: 2023/12/26
date added: 2025/01/30
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]]> Evidence of the Affair 41715227 The repercussions of an illicit affair unfold in this short story by bestselling author Taylor Jenkins Reid.

Dear stranger�

A desperate young woman in Southern California sits down to write a letter to a man she’s never met—a choice that will forever change both their lives.

My heart goes out to you, David. Even though I do not know you�

The correspondence between Carrie Allsop and David Mayer reveals, piece by piece, the painful details of a devastating affair between their spouses. With each commiserating scratch of the pen, they confess their fears and bare their souls. They share the bewilderment over how things went so wrong and come to wonder where to go from here.

Told entirely through the letters of two comforting strangers and those of two illicit lovers, Evidence of the Affair explores the complex nature of the heart. And ultimately, for one woman, how liberating it can be when it’s broken.]]> 88 Taylor Jenkins Reid 1542044510 Karen 5 3.86 2018 Evidence of the Affair
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: Karen
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2024/01/05
date added: 2025/01/30
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]]> <![CDATA[The Peculiar Garden of Harriet Hunt]]> 208897316
Harriet Hunt is completely alone. Her father disappeared months ago, leaving her to wander the halls of Sunnyside house, dwelling on a past she'd rather keep buried. She doesn't often venture beyond her front gate, instead relishing the feel of dirt under her fingernails and of soft moss beneath her feet. Consequently, she's been deemed a little too peculiar for popular Victorian society. This solitary life suits her fine, though � because, outside, magic awaits.

Harriet's garden is special. It's a wild place full of twisting ivy, vibrant plums, and a quiet power that buzzes like bees. Caring for this place, and keeping it from running rampant through the streets of her London suburb, is Harriet's purpose.

But a woman alone in the world is vulnerable. Soon, a sinister plot involving her father's disappearance begins to take shape, with Harriet herself at its center. Everything she holds dear � from the thorny roses she tends to her very freedom itself � is at stake. To save herself, Harriet will have to unearth her past, discover the secrets of her garden, and finally embrace the wild magic inside of her.]]> 320 Chelsea Iversen 1728275822 Karen 3 3.98 2024 The Peculiar Garden of Harriet Hunt
author: Chelsea Iversen
name: Karen
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/26
date added: 2025/01/26
shelves:
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]]> The Winners (Beartown, #3) 60209470
As the locals of Beartown struggle to overcome the past, great change is on the horizon. Someone is coming home after a long time away. Someone will be laid to rest. Someone will fall in love, someone will try to fix their marriage, and someone will do anything to save their children. Someone will submit to hate, someone will fight, and someone will grab a gun and walk towards the ice rink.

So what are the residents of Beartown willing to sacrifice for their home?

Everything.

The long-awaited conclusion to the beloved New York Times bestselling and “engrossing� (People) Beartown series—which inspired an HBO series of the same name—follows the small hockey town’s residents as they grapple with change, pain, hope, and redemption.]]> 673 Fredrik Backman 1982112794 Karen 0 4.42 2022 The Winners (Beartown, #3)
author: Fredrik Backman
name: Karen
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/17
shelves: 2024-reading-list, currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Last Devil to Die (Thursday Murder Club, #4)]]> 222787868 Alternate cover edition can be found here

You'd think you be allowed to relax over Christmas, but not in the world of the Thursday Murder Club.

On Boxing Day, a dangerous package is smuggled across the English coast. When it goes missing, chaos is unleashed. The body count starts to rise � including someone close to the Thursday Murder Club--as our gang face an impossible search, and their most deadly opponents yet.

With the clock ticking down and a killer heading to Cooper’s Chase, has their luck finally run out? And who will be “The Last Devil To Die�?]]> Richard Osman 0593299434 Karen 5 4.58 2023 The Last Devil to Die (Thursday Murder Club, #4)
author: Richard Osman
name: Karen
average rating: 4.58
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/15
date added: 2025/01/15
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]]> The Stolen Queen 211025454 From New York Times bestselling author Fiona Davis, an utterly addictive new novel that will transport you from New York City’s most glamorous party to the labyrinth streets of Cairo and back.

Egypt, 1936: When anthropology student Charlotte Cross is offered a coveted spot on an archaeological dig in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, she leaps at the opportunity. But after an unbearable tragedy strikes, Charlotte knows her future will never be the same.

New York City, 1978: Eighteen-year-old Annie Jenkins is thrilled when she lands an opportunity to work for iconic former Vogue fashion editor Diana Vreeland, who’s in the midst of organizing the famous Met Gala, hosted at the museum and known across the city as the “party of the year.� Though Annie soon realizes she’ll have her work cut out for her, scrambling to meet Diana’s capricious demands and exacting standards.

Meanwhile, Charlotte, now leading a quiet life as the associate curator of the Met’s celebrated Department of Egyptian Art, wants little to do with the upcoming gala. She’s consumed with her research on Hathorkare—a rare female pharaoh dismissed by most other Egyptologists as unimportant.

That is, until the night of the gala. When one of the Egyptian art collection’s most valuable artifacts goes missing . . . and there are signs Hathorkare’s legendary curse might be reawakening.

As Annie and Charlotte team up to search for the missing antiquity, a desperate hunch leads the unlikely duo to one place Charlotte swore she’d never return: Egypt. But if they’re to have any hope of finding the artifact, Charlotte will need to confront the demons of her past—which may mean leading them both directly into danger.]]> 352 Fiona Davis 0593474279 Karen 0 to-read 3.91 2025 The Stolen Queen
author: Fiona Davis
name: Karen
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/14
shelves: to-read
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]]> More or Less Maddy 214151333 A breathless, riveting novel about a young woman diagnosed with bipolar disorder who rejects the stability and approval found in a traditionally “normal� life for a career in stand-up comedy.

Maddy Banks is just like any other stressed-out freshman at NYU. Between schoolwork, exams, navigating life in the city, and a recent breakup, it’s normal to be feeling overwhelmed. It doesn’t help that she’s always felt like the odd one out in her picture-perfect Connecticut family. But Maddy’s latest low is devastatingly low, and she goes on an antidepressant. She begins to feel good, dazzling in fact, and she soon spirals high into a wild and terrifying mania that culminates in a diagnosis of bipolar disorder.

As she struggles to find her way in this new reality, navigating the complex effects bipolar has on her identity, her relationships, and her life dreams, Maddy will have to figure out how to manage being both too much and not enough.

With her signature “deep empathy and insight� (Booklist), Harvard-trained neuroscientist and New York Times bestselling author Lisa Genova has crafted another profoundly moving novel that makes complicated mental health issues accessible and human. More or Less Maddy is destined to become another classic like Still Alice.]]> 368 Lisa Genova 1668026163 Karen 0 to-read 4.21 2025 More or Less Maddy
author: Lisa Genova
name: Karen
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/14
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]]> <![CDATA[The Museum of Lost Quilts (Elm Creek Quilts, #22)]]> 202516501 Jennifer Chiaverini’s beloved and bestselling Elm Creek Quilts series returns with the first Elm Creek Quilts novel since 2019’s The Christmas Boutique.

Summer Sullivan, the youngest founding member of Elm Creek Quilts, has spent the last two years pursuing a master’s degree in history at the University of Chicago. Her unexpected return home to the celebrated quilter’s retreat is met with delight but also concern from her mother, Gwen; her best friend, Sarah; master quilter Sylvia; and her other colleagues—and rightly so. Stymied by writer’s block, Summer hasn’t finished her thesis, and she can’t graduate until she does.

Elm Creek Manor offers respite while Summer struggles to meet her extended deadline. She finds welcome distraction in organizing an exhibit of antique quilts as a fundraiser to renovate Union Hall, the 1863 Greek Revival headquarters of the Waterford Historical Society. But Summer’s research uncovers startling facts about Waterford’s past, prompting unsettling questions about racism, economic injustice, and political corruption within their community, past and present.

As Summer’s work progresses, quilt lovers and history buffs praise the growing collection, but affronted local leaders demand that she remove all references to Waterford’s troubled history. As controversy threatens the exhibit’s success, Summer fears that her pursuit of the truth might cost the Waterford Historical Society their last chance to save Union Hall. Her only hope is to rally the quilting community to her cause.

The Museum of Lost Quilts is a warm and deeply moving story about the power of collective memory. With every fascinating quilt she studies, Summer finds her passion for history renewed—and discovers a promising new future for herself.]]> 320 Jennifer Chiaverini 0063080818 Karen 3 4.45 The Museum of Lost Quilts (Elm Creek Quilts, #22)
author: Jennifer Chiaverini
name: Karen
average rating: 4.45
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/03
date added: 2025/01/03
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]]> The Answer Is No 219876684 In a hilarious short story from New York Times bestselling author Fredrik Backman, the absurdities of modern life cause one man’s solitary world to spin suddenly, and comically, out of control.

Lucas knows the perfect night entails just three things: video games, wine, and pad thai. Peanuts are a must! Other people? Not so much. Why complicate things when he’s happy alone?

Then one day the apartment board, a vexing trio of authority, rings his doorbell. And Lucas’s solitude takes a startling hike. They demand to see his frying pan. Someone left one next to the recycling room overnight, and instead of removing the errant object, as Lucas suggests, they insist on finding the guilty party. But their plan backfires. Colossally.

Told in Fredrik Backman’s singular witty style with sharply drawn characters and relatable antics, The Answer Is No is a laugh-out-loud portrait of a man struggling to keep to himself in a world that won’t leave him alone.]]> 68 Fredrik Backman 1662526520 Karen 5 3.94 2024 The Answer Is No
author: Fredrik Backman
name: Karen
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/25
date added: 2024/12/25
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]]> <![CDATA[Christmas Crime in Kingfisher Falls (The Charlotte Dean Mysteries #1)]]> 222207779 An alternative cover edition can be found here

IMPORTANT NOTE: This is a rewritten version of a book previously published under the titles DEADLY START and before that THE CHRISTMAS TREE THIEF.

Starting over has never been more dangerous.

Charlotte Dean loves her new job at the bookshop in the small town of Kingfisher Falls. One day she will buy the store when Rosie retires, but for now she's content to learn the ropes and forget her troubled past. Even the snobby book club ladies can't dampen her spirits.

But when a strange series of crimes casts suspicion on all the wrong people - including Charlotte - she can't stand back and watch. With Rosie more than happy to help, Charlotte begins her own investigation into Christmas tree thieves and a vendetta against a local family.

With the community divided and criminals on the loose, the annual Christmas Eve street party is about to change lives forever, and Charlotte is the only one who can prevent a disaster.

So much for keeping her head down.

IMPORTANT This is a rewritten version of a book previously published under the titles DEADLY START and before that THE CHRISTMAS TREE THIEF. The author has the rights back from a publisher and has done a light rewrite with a few new scenes and changed the title and cover. The entire Charlotte Dean series will progressively be released with light rewrites, new covers, and new titles.]]> 264 Phillipa Nefri Clark Karen 3 4.17 2019 Christmas Crime in Kingfisher Falls (The Charlotte Dean Mysteries #1)
author: Phillipa Nefri Clark
name: Karen
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/24
date added: 2024/12/25
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]]> Tress of the Emerald Sea 68320207 C’est le début d’un périple au bout du monde, où l’on retrouve tous les ingrédients qui font le sel des grandes aventures : des contrebandiers de la pire espèce, une sorcière malintentionnée, un redoutable dragon, des pirates sales et méchants (ou pas), et même un rat qui parle...
Tress de la mer Émeraude est le premier des quatre « romans secrets » écrits par Brandon Sanderson, l’auteur best-seller aux plus de trente-six millions d’exemplaires vendus à travers le monde, durant les confinements de la pandémie de Covid-19. Ces romans ont fait l’objet d’une campagne de financement participatif record sur la plateforme Kickstarter aux États-Unis.

Un roman à dévorer. Numerama.

Un roman du Cosmère.]]> 486 Brandon Sanderson Karen 5 4.44 2023 Tress of the Emerald Sea
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Karen
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/10/24
date added: 2024/12/23
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space]]> 199798785
On January 28, 1986, just seventy-three seconds into flight, the space shuttle Challenger broke apart over the Atlantic Ocean, killing all seven people on board. Millions of Americans witnessed the tragic deaths of a crew including New Hampshire schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe. Like 9/11 or JFK’s assassination, the Challenger disaster is a defining moment in 20th-century history—yet the details of what took place that day, and why, have largely been forgotten. Until now.

Based on extensive archival records and meticulous, original reporting, Challenger follows a handful of central protagonists—including each of the seven members of the doomed crew—through the years leading up to the accident, a detailed account of the tragedy itself, and into the investigation that followed. It’s a tale of optimism and promise undermined by political cynicism and cost-cutting in the interests of burnishing national prestige; of hubris and heroism; and of an investigation driven by leakers and whistleblowers determined to bring the truth to light. Throughout, there are the ominous warning signs of a tragedy to come, recognized but then ignored, and ultimately kept from the public.

Higginbotham reveals the history of the shuttle program, the lives of men and women whose stories have been overshadowed by the disaster as well as the designers, engineers, and test pilots who struggled against the odds to get the first shuttle into space.]]> 563 Adam Higginbotham 198217661X Karen 0 to-read 4.52 2024 Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space
author: Adam Higginbotham
name: Karen
average rating: 4.52
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/23
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]]> Mexican Gothic 52873094
Noemí is also an unlikely rescuer: She’s a glamorous debutante, and her chic gowns and perfect red lipstick are more suited for cocktail parties than amateur sleuthing. But she’s also tough and smart, with an indomitable will, and she is not afraid: Not of her cousin’s new husband, who is both menacing and alluring; not of his father, the ancient patriarch who seems to be fascinated by Noemí; and not even of the house itself, which begins to invade Noemi’s dreams with visions of blood and doom.

Her only ally in this inhospitable abode is the family’s youngest son. Shy and gentle, he seems to want to help Noemí, but might also be hiding dark knowledge of his family’s past. For there are many secrets behind the walls of High Place. The family’s once colossal wealth and faded mining empire kept them from prying eyes, but as Noemí digs deeper she unearths stories of violence and madness.

And Noemí, mesmerized by the terrifying yet seductive world of High Place, may soon find it impossible to ever leave this enigmatic house behind.]]> 304 Silvia Moreno-Garcia Karen 0 to-read 3.76 2020 Mexican Gothic
author: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
name: Karen
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/18
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]]> Winter's Fairytale 27405906 Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow�

A few weeks before Christmas and a sudden blanketing of snow has closed the roads and brought public transport grinding to a halt, stranding Izzy miles from home and in desperate need of rescuing.

That doesn’t mean she’s looking to bump into Rob and spend a cosy weekend holed up in his swanky flat watching London become a winter wonderland! Because Izzy and Rob have history�

Six months ago, they were standing in the vestry of a beautiful country church, while best man Rob delivered the news that every bride dreads on their big day.

But at the time of year when anything is possible, can Rob and Izzy let go of the past and let Christmas work its magic? Or will this be one holiday wish that Izzy lets walk right out of her life�

]]> 315 Maxine Morrey Karen 4 4.34 2015 Winter's Fairytale
author: Maxine Morrey
name: Karen
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/16
date added: 2024/12/16
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]]> The Unseen World 32191748 The Unseen World’s heart-stopping, fascinating conclusion.]]> 451 Liz Moore 0393354415 Karen 0 to-read 4.08 2016 The Unseen World
author: Liz Moore
name: Karen
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/16
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]]> The Christmas Book Hunt 220506847
A Christmas mission�

Mirren’s beloved great-aunt Violet is seriously ill. Her one Christmas wish is to be reunited with a long-lost hand-illustrated book from her childhood, a challenge Mirren gladly accepts to give Violet some much-needed festive cheer.

An enchanting journey�

With no sign of the cherished volume online, Mirren falls into the fascinating world of rare books. From London to snowy Hay-on-Wye and Edinburgh’s cobbled streets, she chases leads from bookshop to bookshop—and bumps into mysterious, charming Theo, who, unbeknownst to her, is searching for the same book for reasons of his own�

The start of a new chapter?

As the two join forces to track the book down before time runs out for Violet, will Mirren find her Christmas miracle—and maybe even a kiss under the mistletoe� ?

For fans of Josie Silver, Jill Mansell and the Queen of Christmas herself, a snow-swept love story to warm even the coldest winter’s day.]]> 127 Jenny Colgan 1662522576 Karen 4 3.73 2024 The Christmas Book Hunt
author: Jenny Colgan
name: Karen
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/11
date added: 2024/12/11
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]]> Crow Lake 8646 Crow Lake is that rare find, a first novel so quietly assured, so emotionally pitch perfect, you know from the opening page that this is the real thing—a literary experience in which to lose yourself, by an author of immense talent.

Here is a gorgeous, slow-burning story set in the rural “badlands� of northern Ontario, where heartbreak and hardship are mirrored in the landscape. For the farming Pye family, life is a Greek tragedy where the sins of the fathers are visited on the sons, and terrible events occur—offstage.

Centerstage are the Morrisons, whose tragedy looks more immediate if less brutal, but is, in reality, insidious and divisive. Orphaned young, Kate Morrison was her older brother Matt’s protegee, her fascination for pond life fed by his passionate interest in the natural world. Now a zoologist, she can identify organisms under a microscope but seems blind to the state of her own emotional life. And she thinks she’s outgrown her siblings—Luke, Matt, and Bo—who were once her entire world.

In this universal drama of family love and misunderstandings, of resentments harbored and driven underground, Lawson ratchets up the tension with heartbreaking humor and consummate control, continually overturning one’s expectations right to the very end. Tragic, funny, unforgettable, this deceptively simple masterpiece about the perils of hero worship leapt to the top of the bestseller lists only days after being released in Canada and earned glowing reviews in The New York Times and The Globe and Mail, to name a few.]]> 320 Mary Lawson 0385337639 Karen 0 to-read 3.96 2002 Crow Lake
author: Mary Lawson
name: Karen
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2002
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/10
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]]> <![CDATA[Mexico in Your Kitchen: Favorite Mexican Recipes That Celebrate Family, Community, Culture, and Tradition]]> 195820963
Starting her cooking journey from childhood, Mely Martínez has rooted her expertise in family and culture. With her acclaimed cookbook The Mexican Home Kitchen , she successfully transported her fragrant flashbacks into the homes and kitchens of fans around the world. Mely continues her journey by capturing even more of her flavorful recipes in Mexico in Your Kitchen ,including authentic dishes inspired by the states of Tamaulipas, NuevoLeón, Veracruz, Puebla, Estado deMéxico, Tabasco, andYucatán . In every section, she invites you to experience the taste of Mexico , providing tips and stories that will fill your hearts just as much as your stomachs.

Specialized for the home cook, Mexico in Your Kitchen includes a varied collection of easy-to-follow recipes filled with accessible and fresh ingredients . With an unintimidating approach to authentic Mexican cuisine, Mely includes dishes such

Paired with beautifully photographed dishes , Mexico in Your Kitchen brings more of the rich aromas and flavors of Mexico to your home.]]> 240 Mely Martinez 1631069373 Karen 0 to-read 4.34 Mexico in Your Kitchen: Favorite Mexican Recipes That Celebrate Family, Community, Culture, and Tradition
author: Mely Martinez
name: Karen
average rating: 4.34
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/10
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]]> <![CDATA[The Mexican Home Kitchen: Traditional Home-Style Recipes That Capture the Flavors and Memories of Mexico]]> 50358675 The long-awaited, best-selling cookbook from Mely Martínez,The Mexican Home Kitchen, compiles the traditional home-style dishes enjoyed every day in Mexican households, with influences from states like Tamaulipas, Nuevo León, Veracruz, Puebla, Estado de México, and Yucatán.

*As featured in The New York Times, New York Magazine, People Magazine, The Smithsonian Magazine, Eater, Epicurious, Chowhound, The Kitchn, Prevention, and Taste of Home*

Illustrated with stunning photography, this book includes recipes for stews, soups, and side dishes, along with famous dishes like mole, enchiladas, picadillo, and milanesa, and is rounded out with delicious salsas, drinks, and desserts.

For Mely Martínez, Mexican cooking has always been about family, community, and tradition. Born and raised in Tampico, Mely started helping in the kitchen at a very young age, since she was the oldest daughter of eight children, and spent summers at her grandmother’s farm in the state of Veracruz, where part of the daily activities included helping grind the corn to make masa.

Mely started her popular blog, Mexico in My Kitchen, to share the recipes and memories of her home so that her son can someday recreate and share these dishes with his own family. In the meantime, it has become the go-to source for those looking for authentic home-style Mexican cooking.

Recreate these favorite comfort foods using inexpensive, easy-to-find ingredients:


Caldo de Pollo (Mexican chicken soup)
Tacos de Bistec (steak tacos)
Carnitas (tender, crispy pork)
Albondigas (Mexican meatballs)
Tamales (both savory and sweet)
Enchiladas (both red and green sauces)
Mole Poblano (one of the most classic and popular moles)
Nopales (recipes made with cactus paddles)
Empanadas (beef and cheese filled)
Chiles Rellenos (stuffed and fried poblano peppers)
Pozole (both red and green versions)
Camarones en Chipotle (deviled shrimp)
Salsa Taquera (salsa for tacos)
Pastel de Tres Leches (a luscious and moist cake that’s a Mexican favorite)
Buñuelos (crispy dough fritters coated in sugar)
Aguas Frescas (horchata, hibiscus, and tamarind flavors)
and much more!

Complete with easy-to-follow instructions, beautiful images, and stories from Mexico, along with recipes for making corn and flour tortillas and tips for stocking your pantry, The Mexican Home Kitchen will have you enjoying this delicious cooking right in your own home.]]> 192 Mely Martinez 1631066935 Karen 0 to-read 4.29 2020 The Mexican Home Kitchen: Traditional Home-Style Recipes That Capture the Flavors and Memories of Mexico
author: Mely Martinez
name: Karen
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> No Place Like Home 204118156 An enriching and deeply moving novel about love and loss, the bonds of family and friends, and coming home by the USA Today bestselling author of When We Believed in Mermaids.

Life didn’t turn out the way Jewel Sabatino planned. However long she’s been gone, home is waiting.

At seventeen, Jewel fled Colorado for New York City and didn’t look back. Now she’s raising a teenage son alone and is a loving caretaker to her one true friend when she receives a surprising her aunt’s Pueblo farm and one hundred acres of land. After decades, it’s time for Jewel to reconnect with everyone and everything she left behind.

Her seventeen-year-old son, Shane, is finally meeting his relatives. Jewel’s soulmate, Michael, has a serene haven for his final days. And Jewel’s welcome back is one of a strong community embracing rich Sicilian traditions, three ebullient sisters preparing for a summer wedding, and a tearful and anxious mother with open arms. But for Jewel, it also means facing her father, who has never forgiven his favorite child for betraying him. And he may never forgive her.

As Jewel’s emotional journey begins, an estranged visitor turns her life around again and could heal her wary heart in ways she never expected.

Revised This edition of No Place Like Home includes editorial revisions.]]> 329 Barbara O'Neal 1662521286 Karen 4 4.50 No Place Like Home
author: Barbara O'Neal
name: Karen
average rating: 4.50
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/06
date added: 2024/12/06
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[Baking for the Holidays: 50+ Treats for a Festive Season]]> 56756035
Here's a festive holiday baking book to celebrate this very special time of year. Sarah Kieffer, author of 100 Cookies, beloved baker behind The Vanilla Bean Blog, and creator of the "bang-the-pan" method offers more than 50 delicious recipes for seasonal brunches, cookie swaps, and all those Christmas, Hanukah, and New Year's Eve parties.

Delight family and friends with edible gifts and whip up some delicious baked goods to treat yourself through the long winter months after the holidays have ended. Recipes include: Triple Chocolate Peppermint Bark, Meyer Lemon-White Chocolate Scones, Pear-Almond Danish Bread, Hot Chocolate Cake, and Pumpkin Pie with Candied Pepita Streusel.

With cozy holiday imagery, a lovely, clean aesthetic, and easy yet innovative recipes, this is a go-to cookbook for baking enthusiasts, anyone who loves the holiday season, and, of course, fans of Sarah Kieffer and her hugely popular cookie book, 100 Cookies.

GREAT GIFT OPPORTUNITY: With happy, festive photography and anyone-can-do-it recipes, this is a perfect holiday gift alongside a cute apron or baking product. It's sure to please anyone in your life who loves to while away the winter months in their warm and cozy kitchen.

BELOVED, ACCOMPLISHED BLOGGER AND AUTHOR: Sarah Kieffer is the beloved blogger behind The Vanilla Bean Baking Blog, which won the SAVEUR Reader's Choice Best Baking & Desserts Blog in 2014. Her pan-banging cookie technique went viral on the New York Times website. She has written two cookbooks and been featured by Food52, The Today Show, Mashable, The Kitchn, America's Test Kitchen, Huffington Post, and more.

Perfect for:

� Bakers of all ages
� Holiday bakers
� Fans of Sarah's bang-the-pan cookies, 100 Cookies, and The Vanilla Bean Blog
� Holiday gift givers]]> 224 Sarah Kieffer 145218075X Karen 0 to-read 4.22 2021 Baking for the Holidays: 50+ Treats for a Festive Season
author: Sarah Kieffer
name: Karen
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Thank You for Listening 59926642
On her return home, Sewanee discovers one of the world’s most beloved romance novelists wanted her to perform her last book—with Brock McNight, the industry’s hottest, most secretive voice. Sewanee doesn’t buy what romance novels are selling—not after her own dreams were tragically cut short—and she stopped narrating them years ago. But her admiration of the late author, and the opportunity to get her grandmother more help, makes her decision for her.

As Sewanee begins work on the book, resurrecting her old romance pseudonym, she and Brock forge a real connection, hidden behind the comfort of anonymity. Soon, she is dreaming again, but secrets are revealed, and the realities of life come crashing down around her once more.

If she can learn to risk everything for desires she has long buried, she will discover a world of intimacy and acceptance she never believed would be hers.

From the author of My Oxford Year, Julia Whelan’s uplifting novel tells the story of a former actress turned successful audiobook narrator—who has lost sight of her dreams after a tragic accident—and her journey of self-discovery, love, and acceptance when she agrees to narrate one last romance novel.]]> 423 Julia Whelan Karen 0 return-to 4.04 2022 Thank You for Listening
author: Julia Whelan
name: Karen
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/27
shelves: return-to
review:

]]> The Christmas Countdown 205800861 From the author of The Christmas Wager comes a charming holiday rom-com about a young, recently heartbroken woman who is tasked by her sister to complete Advent calendar challenges in the lead up to Christmas to reignite her belief in herself, the holidays, and love again.

She’s given up on love and Christmas…but fate has other plans.

All Callie wants for Christmas is to hibernate. She's still reeling from being dumped by her childhood sweetheart, and under no circumstances will she go home for the holidays considering her ex will be right next door with his new, perfect partner. Callie is officially in grinch mode, but her meddling sister, Anita, won’t let her give up on life, love, and Christmas quite so easily.

Anita stages a Christmas intervention for Callie with a homemade Advent calendar challenge—cheerful tasks to push Callie out of her comfort zone and into the holiday spirit, inspired by a childhood tradition. Callie reluctantly plays along, but when she comes face-to-face with a charming baker who just might be the spoonful of sugar she needs, her strict rules on love and the holidays are tested.

As they strike a deal to do the activities together, could the twenty four little doors on Callie’s Advent calendar not only open up one, but two closed-off hearts?]]> 316 Holly Cassidy 0593716272 Karen 4 3.64 2024 The Christmas Countdown
author: Holly Cassidy
name: Karen
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/25
date added: 2024/11/25
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Reunion Dinner (Busybodies Collection, #2)]]> 219210462
Josephine Ying longs to overthrow Big Uncle as the best host, and after his roast duck incident, she’s finally getting her chance this Chinese New Year. Even better, her son is bringing a surprise. Unfortunately, the surprise turns out to be a gold-digging fiancée—who dies at the dinner table. Her problems just got a lot bigger than hosting the perfect meal. Certain there’s a killer at the table, Josephine sharpens her questions to find them out.

Jesse Q. Sutanto’s The Reunion Dinner is part of Busybodies, a collection of quirky mysteries featuring amateur gumshoes who stumble upon peculiar cases. Calling all snoops! Read or listen to each arresting story in a single sitting.]]> 35 Jesse Q. Sutanto 1662526199 Karen 0 return-to 3.37 2024 The Reunion Dinner (Busybodies Collection, #2)
author: Jesse Q. Sutanto
name: Karen
average rating: 3.37
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/23
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]]> Holiday Hideaway 219754771 From New York Times bestselling author Mary Kay Andrews comes a charming holiday romance about a newly single thirtysomething whose unauthorized vacation rental turns into a hilarious game of hide-and-seek when the new owner unexpectedly shows up.

Tilly Farriday isn’t feeling very jolly this season. Recently divorced and broke, she’s squatting in one of her rental agency’s properties until her new home is ready. The sprinkles on top of the burnt Christmas cookie that is her life? The new owner shows up early, forcing Tilly to hide in the attic to save her job…and what remains of her dignity.

George Holloway is here to sell his granduncle’s house—and to reconsider whether he and his fiancée are right for each other. Amid home repairs, George notices strange noises and missing food, but as much as he gets his rental agent on the phone, Tilly dodges every invitation to meet. He’s sure that someone’s here with him, and it’s certainly not the Ghost of Christmas Past, Present, or Future.

As Tilly and George circle each other, they both wonder where their lives are headed and if, maybe, meeting each other is just the Christmas miracle they need.]]> 72 Mary Kay Andrews 1662527004 Karen 0 3.62 2024 Holiday Hideaway
author: Mary Kay Andrews
name: Karen
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2024/11/22
date added: 2024/11/23
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]]> <![CDATA[We Will Be Jaguars: A Memoir of My People]]> 195660519
Born into the Waorani tribe of Ecuador’s Amazon rainforest—one of the last to be contacted by missionaries in the 1950s—Nemonte Nenquimo had a singular upbringing. She was taught about plant medicines, foraging, oral storytelling, and shamanism by her elders. She played barefoot in the forest and didn’t walk on pavement, or see a car, until she was a teenager and left to study with an evangelical missionary group in the city. But after Nemonte’s ancestors began appearing in her dreams, pleading with her to return and embrace her own culture, she listened.

Nemonte returned to the forest and traditional ways of life and became one of the most forceful voices in climate change activism. She spearheaded an alliance of Indigenous nations across the Upper Amazon and led her people to a landmark victory against Big Oil, protecting over a half million acres of primary rainforest.

We Will Be Jaguars is an astonishing memoir by an equally astonishing woman. Nemonte digs into generations of oral history, uprooting centuries of conquest, and hacking away at racist notions of Indigenous peoples. Ultimately, she reveals a life story as rich, harsh, and vital as the Amazon rainforest herself.]]> 368 Nemonte Nenquimo 1419763776 Karen 0 to-read 4.46 2024 We Will Be Jaguars: A Memoir of My People
author: Nemonte Nenquimo
name: Karen
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/22
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]]> <![CDATA[My Brilliant Friend (Neapolitan Novels, #1)]]> 35036409 My Brilliant Friend is a rich, intense and generous-hearted story about two friends, Elena and Lila. Ferrante’s inimitable style lends itself perfectly to a meticulous portrait of these two women that is also the story of a nation and a touching meditation on the nature of friendship. Through the lives of these two women, Ferrante tells the story of a neighbourhood, a city and a country as it is transformed in ways that, in turn, also transform the relationship between her two protagonists.]]> 331 Elena Ferrante Karen 0 to-read 4.08 2011 My Brilliant Friend (Neapolitan Novels, #1)
author: Elena Ferrante
name: Karen
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/20
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]]> <![CDATA[The Nosy Neighbor (Busybodies Collection, #4)]]> 219210405
Meddlesome Marge keeps too close a watch on her neighbor’s house across the street in this twisty short story from Nita Prose, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Maid and The Mystery Guest.

For decades, Marge has been spying on her neighbors Doris and Bob, reporting every sordid thing she sees to her husband, Harold. Flamboyant Doris and boring Bob are an odd couple, but as Marge watches their comings and goings, she starts to wonder if there’s more than meets the eye. Is Doris’s latest hobby—flamenco dancing, of all things—an attempt to spice things up, or is there something more sinister going on in the house across the street? Soon enough, Marge learns that digging into her suspicions means digging herself into a very deep hole.

Nita Prose’s The Nosy Neighbor is part of Busybodies, a collection of quirky mysteries featuring amateur gumshoes who stumble upon peculiar cases. Calling all snoops! Read or listen to each arresting story in a single sitting.]]> 29 Nita Prose 1662525192 Karen 0 3.36 2024 The Nosy Neighbor (Busybodies Collection, #4)
author: Nita Prose
name: Karen
average rating: 3.36
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2024/11/19
date added: 2024/11/19
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]]> The Dry (Aaron Falk, #1) 59139035 A small town hides big secrets in The Dry, an atmospheric, page-turning debut mystery by award-winning author Jane Harper.

After getting a note demanding his presence, Federal Agent Aaron Falk arrives in his hometown for the first time in decades to attend the funeral of his best friend, Luke. Twenty years ago when Falk was accused of murder, Luke was his alibi. Falk and his father fled under a cloud of suspicion, saved from prosecution only because of Luke’s steadfast claim that the boys had been together at the time of the crime. But now more than one person knows they didn’t tell the truth back then, and Luke is dead.

Amid the worst drought in a century, Falk and the local detective question what really happened to Luke. As Falk reluctantly investigates to see if there’s more to Luke’s death than there seems to be, long-buried mysteries resurface, as do the lies that have haunted them. And Falk will find that small towns have always hidden big secrets.]]> 336 Jane Harper Karen 5 4.27 2016 The Dry (Aaron Falk, #1)
author: Jane Harper
name: Karen
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/18
date added: 2024/11/18
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]]> <![CDATA[Pass the Plate: 100 Delicious, Highly Shareable, Everyday Recipes]]> 204316947 Wildly popular blogger and viral food influencer Carolina Gelen presents 100 crowd-pleasing, never hard, effortlessly delicious recipes for flavorful meals that showcase her carefree style.Millions of online followers have flocked to Carolina Gelen's comforting cooking and easy, breezy style that emphasizes big flavor with a light lift. In her debut cookbook, she shares soulful recipes rooted in the resourcefulness of her Romanian upbringing that use affordable, pantry-friendly ingredients.With 100 simple recipes—almost all brand-new but including some fan favorites—for creative but familiar takes on satisfying comfort foods, Pass the Plate has you covered for any occasion, from easy weeknight meals to spirited gatherings. No matter the mood or skill level, you’ll enjoy irresistible recipes from personality-packed chapters such One-Pan Zucchini Feta Fried Eggs, Sesame-Crusted Breakfast Quesadilla with Spinach, Dutch Baby Pancake with Yogurt Whipped Cream and Sweet BerriesNosh & Smothered Sweet Onion Bread, Butter Pecan Twists, Spicy Charred Red Pepper Yogurt Dip One-Pan Garlicky Chicken Couscous, Crispy Coconut Chicken Bites with Pineapple-Basil Salsa, Honey Chipotle Salmon Tacos Dorados Caramelized Lemon Pesto Pasta, Many Mushrooms Lasagna, Brie Mac and Cheese with Crunchy PankoSalad Evergreen Potato Salad, Cucumber Salad with Salted Lemon Yogurt, Heirloom Tomato Salad with Anchovy PankoVeg Butter Beans alla Vodka, One-Pot Baked RisottoBlistered Tomatoes with Burrata, Cozy Veggie Pot PieSweets & Upside-Down Pineapple Coconut Cake, The Very Best Banana Bread, Easy No-Bake Milk Chocolate PieWith gorgeous photography and heartwarming stories about Carolina’s family, Pass the Plate will bring comfort to your kitchen and have friends and family asking for seconds.]]> 272 Carolina Gelen 0593581873 Karen 0 to-read 4.39 Pass the Plate: 100 Delicious, Highly Shareable, Everyday Recipes
author: Carolina Gelen
name: Karen
average rating: 4.39
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/18
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]]> The Cliffs 200634908 A novel of family, secrets, ghosts, and homecoming set on the seaside cliffs of Maine, by the New York Times best-selling author of Friends and Strangers.

On a secluded bluff overlooking the ocean sits a Victorian house, lavender with gingerbread trim, a home that contains a century’s worth of secrets. By the time Jane Flanagan discovers the house as a teenager, it has long been abandoned. The place is an irresistible mystery to Jane. There are still clothes in the closets, marbles rolling across the floors, and dishes in the cupboards, even though no one has set foot there in decades. The house becomes a hideaway for Jane, a place to escape her volatile mother.

Twenty years later, now a Harvard archivist, she returns home to Maine following a terrible mistake that threatens both her career and her marriage. Jane is horrified to find the Victorian is now barely recognizable. The new owner, Genevieve, a summer person from Beacon Hill, has gutted it, transforming the house into a glossy white monstrosity straight out of a shelter magazine. Strangely, Genevieve is convinced that the house is haunted—perhaps the product of something troubling Genevieve herself has done. She hires Jane to research the history of the place and the women who lived there. The story Jane uncovers—of lovers lost at sea, romantic longing, shattering loss, artistic awakening, historical artifacts stolen and sold, and the long shadow of colonialism—is even older than Maine itself.

Enthralling, richly imagined, filled with psychic mediums and charlatans, spirits and past lives, mothers, marriage, and the legacy of alcoholism, this is a deeply moving novel about the land we inhabit, the women who came before us, and the ways in which none of us will ever truly leave this earth.]]> 384 J. Courtney Sullivan 059331915X Karen 0 to-read 3.51 2024 The Cliffs
author: J. Courtney Sullivan
name: Karen
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/17
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]]> <![CDATA[What I Ate in One Year (And Related Thoughts)]]> 207298822
“Sharing food is one of the purest human acts.�

Food has always been an integral part of Stanley Tucci’s life: from stracciatella soup served in the shadow of the Pantheon, to marinara sauce cooked between scene rehearsals and costume fittings, to home-made pizza eaten with his children before bedtime.

Now, in What I Ate in One Year Tucci records twelve months of eating—in restaurants, kitchens, film sets, press junkets, at home and abroad, with friends, with family, with strangers, and occasionally just by himself.

Ranging from the mouth-wateringly memorable to the comfortingly domestic and to the infuriatingly inedible, the meals memorialised in this diary are a prism for him to reflect on the ways his life, and his family, are constantly evolving. Through food he marks—and mourns—the passing of time, the loss of loved ones, and steels himself for what is to come.

Whether it’s duck a l’orange eaten with fellow actors and cooked by singing Carmelite nuns, steaks barbequed at a gathering with friends, or meatballs made by his mother and son and shared at the table with three generations of his family, these meals give shape and add emotional richness to his days.

What I Ate in One Year is a funny, poignant, heartfelt, and deeply satisfying serving of memories and meals and an irresistible celebration of the profound role that food plays in all our lives.]]> 368 Stanley Tucci 1668055686 Karen 0 to-read 3.85 2024 What I Ate in One Year (And Related Thoughts)
author: Stanley Tucci
name: Karen
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/14
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]]> The Vanishing Half 51791252
Weaving together multiple strands and generations of this family, from the Deep South to California, from the 1950s to the 1990s, Brit Bennett produces a story that is at once a riveting, emotional family story and a brilliant exploration of the American history of passing. Looking well beyond issues of race, The Vanishing Half considers the lasting influence of the past as it shapes a person's decisions, desires, and expectations, and explores some of the multiple reasons and realms in which people sometimes feel pulled to live as something other than their origins.]]> 343 Brit Bennett 0525536299 Karen 0 to-read 4.11 2020 The Vanishing Half
author: Brit Bennett
name: Karen
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/14
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]]> This Summer Will Be Different 197578057 This summer they’ll keep their promise. This summer they won’t give into temptation. This summer will be different.

Lucy is the tourist vacationing at a beach house on Prince Edward Island. Felix is the local who shows her a very good time. The only problem: Lucy doesn’t know he’s her best friend’s younger brother. Lucy and Felix’s chemistry is unreal, but the list of reasons why they need to stay away from each other is long, and they vow to never repeat that electric night again.

It’s easier said than done.

Each year, Lucy escapes to PEI for a big breath of coastal air, fresh oysters and crisp vinho verde with her best friend, Bridget. Every visit begins with a long walk on the beach, beneath soaring red cliffs and a golden sun. And every visit, Lucy promises herself she won’t wind up in Felix’s bed. Again.

If Lucy can’t help being drawn to Felix, at least she’s always kept her heart out of it.

When Bridget suddenly flees Toronto a week before her wedding, Lucy drops everything to follow her to the island. Her mission is to help Bridget through her crisis and resist the one man she’s never been able to. But Felix’s sparkling eyes and flirty quips have been replaced with something new, and Lucy’s beginning to wonder just how safe her heart truly is.]]> 361 Carley Fortune 0593638905 Karen 4 4.10 2024 This Summer Will Be Different
author: Carley Fortune
name: Karen
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/11
date added: 2024/11/11
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]]> <![CDATA[Seamless Knit Sweaters in 2 Weeks: 20 Patterns for Flawless Cardigans, Pullovers, Tees and More]]> 41519623 Knit a Sweater You’ll Love for Years to Come in Just a Few Weeks!

Marie Greene’s twenty gorgeous new patterns make knitting the sweater of your dreams a breeze. If you’ve ever struggled to complete a pullover or been too intimidated to start a cardigan, these seamless, top-down designs will change the way you think about sweaters. Now you can create stylish, long-lasting, professional-quality knits in less time than you thought possible and have fun doing it.

With a wide variety of styles and sleeve lengths, this book has a pattern for any time of year. Busy knitters will love the no-fuss construction and carefully chosen details. Captivating cables, cozy textures and fun stripes are made simple with Marie’s helpful tips. Learn to gauge your knitting speed and set a timeline to achieve your goals. These patterns are easy to memorize for portable projects to knit on the go. An incredible value, this collection includes essential tools for efficient knitting and impressive results.]]> 406 Marie Greene Karen 0 return-to 4.20 2019 Seamless Knit Sweaters in 2 Weeks: 20 Patterns for Flawless Cardigans, Pullovers, Tees and More
author: Marie Greene
name: Karen
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/07
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]]> <![CDATA[Triple Crown (Jefferson Hinkley #3)]]> 29639921 Jefferson Hinkley is back in the newest thriller in the Dick Francis tradition, this time on a special mission to the United States to investigate a conspiracy involving the biggest horse races in the country. Jeff Hinkley, investigator for the British Horseracing Authority, has been seconded to the US Federal Anti-Corruption in Sports Agency (FACSA) where he has been asked to find a mole in their organization—an informant who is passing on confidential information to those under suspicion in American racing. At the Kentucky Derby, Jeff joins the FACSA team in a raid on a horse trainer’s barn at Churchill Downs, but the bust is a disaster, and someone ends up dead. Then, on the morning of the Derby itself, three of the most favored horses in the field fall sick. These suspicious events can be no coincidence. In search of answers, Jeff goes undercover as a groom on the backstretch at Belmont Park racetrack in New York. But he discovers far more than he was bargaining corrupt individuals who will stop at nothing—including murder—to capture the most elusive prize in world sport, the Triple Crown.]]> 382 Felix Francis 0399574727 Karen 3 4.04 2016 Triple Crown (Jefferson Hinkley #3)
author: Felix Francis
name: Karen
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/04
date added: 2024/11/04
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]]> City of Night Birds 209801563
On a White Night in 2019, prima ballerina Natalia Leonova returns to St. Petersburg two years after a devastating accident stalled her career. Once the most celebrated dancer of her generation, she now turns to pills and alcohol to numb the pain of her past.

She is unmoored in her old city as the ghosts of her former life begin to resurface: her loving but difficult mother, her absentee father, and the two gifted dancers who led to her downfall.

One of those dancers, Alexander, is the love of her life, who transformed both Natalia and her art. The other is Dmitri, a dark and treacherous genius. When the latter offers her a chance to return to the stage in her signature role, Natalia must decide whether she can again face the people responsible for both her soaring highs and darkest hours.

Painting a vivid portrait of the Russian ballet world, where cutthroat ambition, ever-shifting politics, and sublime artistry collide, City of Night Birds unveils the making of a dancer with both profound intimacy and breathtaking scope. Mysterious and alluring, passionate and virtuosic, Juhea Kim’s second novel is an affecting meditation on love, forgiveness, and the making of an artist in a turbulent world.]]> 320 Juhea Kim 0063394758 Karen 0 to-read 3.56 2024 City of Night Birds
author: Juhea Kim
name: Karen
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/03
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]]> The Women 126918788
Women can be heroes. When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances "Frankie" McGrath hears these words, it is a revelation. Raised in the sun-drenched, idyllic world of Southern California and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing. But in 1965, the world is changing, and she suddenly dares to imagine a different future for herself. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path.

As green and inexperienced as the men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is over-whelmed by the chaos and destruction of war. Each day is a gamble of life and death, hope and betrayal; friendships run deep and can be shattered in an instant. In war, she meets—and becomes one of—the lucky, the brave, the broken, and the lost.

But war is just the beginning for Frankie and her veteran friends. The real battle lies in coming home to a changed and divided America, to angry protesters, and to a country that wants to forget Vietnam.

The Women is the story of one woman gone to war, but it shines a light on all women who put themselves in harm's way and whose sacrifice and commitment to their country has too often been forgotten. A novel about deep friendships and bold patriotism, The Women is a richly drawn story with a memorable heroine whose idealism and courage under fire will come to define an era.]]> 472 Kristin Hannah Karen 5 4.71 2024 The Women
author: Kristin Hannah
name: Karen
average rating: 4.71
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/01
date added: 2024/11/01
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]]> <![CDATA[The Mistletoe Mystery (Molly the Maid, #2.5)]]> 210040063 Molly the Maid has a whole new mystery to solve in this heartwarming novella from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Maid and The Mystery Guest.

Molly Gray has always loved the holidays. When Molly was a child, her gran went to great lengths to make the season merry and bright, full of cherished traditions. The first few Christmases without Gran were hard on Molly, but this year, her beloved boyfriend and fellow festive spirit, Juan Manuel, is intent on making the season Molly’s mofinst joyful yet.

But when a Secret Santa gift exchange at the Regency Grand Hotel raises questions about who Molly can and cannot trust, she dives headfirst into solving her most consequential—and personal—mystery yet. Molly has a bad feeling about things, and she starts to wonder: has she yet again mistaken a frog for a prince?

A heartwarming, magical story about the true spirit of the season, The Mistletoe Mystery reminds us that love is the greatest mystery of all.]]> 112 Nita Prose 0593875443 Karen 0 to-read 3.41 2024 The Mistletoe Mystery (Molly the Maid, #2.5)
author: Nita Prose
name: Karen
average rating: 3.41
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/27
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]]> When We Had Wings 60693378 From three bestselling authors comes an interwoven tale about a trio of World War II nurses stationed in the South Pacific who wage their own battle for freedom and survival.

The Philippines, 1941. When U.S. Navy nurse Eleanor Lindstrom, U.S. Army nurse Penny Franklin, and Filipina nurse Lita Capel forge a friendship at the Army Navy Club in Manila, they believe they’re living a paradise assignment. All three are seeking a way to escape their pasts, but soon the beauty and promise of their surroundings give way to the heavy mantle of war.

Caught in the crosshairs of a fight between the U.S. military and the Imperial Japanese Army for control of the Philippine Islands, the nurses are forced to serve under combat conditions and, ultimately, endure captivity as the first female prisoners of the Second World War. As their resiliency is tested in the face of squalid living arrangements, food shortages, and the enemy’s blatant disregard for the articles of the Geneva Convention, the women strive to keep their hope—and fellow inmates—alive, though not without great cost.

In this sweeping story based on the true experiences of nurses dubbed the “Angels of Bataan,� three women shift in and out of each other’s lives through the darkest days of the war, buoyed by their unwavering friendship and distant dreams of liberation.]]> 424 Ariel Lawhon 0785253343 Karen 0 to-read 4.10 2022 When We Had Wings
author: Ariel Lawhon
name: Karen
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/27
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]]> <![CDATA[The Blessing Way (Leaphorn & Chee, #1)]]> 867387 Alternate cover edition can be found here.

Homicide is always an abomination, but there is something exceptionally disturbing about the victim discovered in a high lonely place, a corpse with a mouth full of sand, abandoned at a crime scene seemingly devoid of tracks or useful clues. Though it goes against his better judgment, Navajo Tribal Police Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn cannot help but suspect the hand of a supernatural killer. There is palpable evil in the air, and Leaphorn's pursuit of a Wolf-Witch is leading him where even the bravest men fear, on a chilling trail that winds perilously between mysticism and murder.]]> 306 Tony Hillerman 0061000019 Karen 0 to-read 3.99 1970 The Blessing Way (Leaphorn & Chee, #1)
author: Tony Hillerman
name: Karen
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1970
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/16
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]]> Florida 44776662 275 Lauren Groff 1594634521 Karen 0 return-to 3.77 2018 Florida
author: Lauren Groff
name: Karen
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/13
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]]> <![CDATA[November Hunt (Murder by Month Mystery, #7)]]> 204118615 Revised This edition of November Hunt includes editorial revisions.]]> 253 Jess Lourey 1662519346 Karen 0 to-read 4.19 2012 November Hunt (Murder by Month Mystery, #7)
author: Jess Lourey
name: Karen
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2012
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/07
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]]> Slow Dance 198529067
They were just friends. Best friends. Allies. They spent entire summers sitting on Shiloh’s porch steps, dreaming about the future. They were both going to get out of north Omaha—Shiloh would go to college and become an actress, and Cary would join the Navy. They promised each other that their friendship would never change.

Well, Shiloh did go to college, and Cary did join the Navy. And yet, somehow, everything changed.

Now Shiloh’s thirty-three, and it’s been fourteen years since she talked to Cary. She’s been married and divorced. She has two kids. And she’s back living in the same house she grew up in. Her life is nothing like she planned.

When she’s invited to an old friend’s wedding, all Shiloh can think about is whether Cary will be there—and whether she hopes he will be. Would Cary even want to talk to her? After everything?

The answer is yes. And yes. And yes.

Slow Dance is the story of two kids who fell in love before they knew enough about love to recognize it. Two friends who lost everything. Two adults who just feel lost.

It’s the story of Shiloh and Cary, who everyone thought would end up together, trying to find their way back to the start.]]> 496 Rainbow Rowell Karen 0 gave-up, return-to 3.83 2024 Slow Dance
author: Rainbow Rowell
name: Karen
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/30
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]]> Maybe in Another Life 61623943
Just after midnight, Gabby asks Hannah if she’s ready to go. A moment later, Ethan offers to give her a ride later if she wants to stay. Hannah hesitates. What happens if she leaves with Gabby? What happens if she leaves with Ethan?

In concurrent storylines, Hannah lives out the effects of each decision. Quickly, these parallel universes develop into radically different stories with large-scale consequences for Hannah, as well as the people around her. As the two alternate realities run their course, Maybe in Another Life raises questions about fate and true love: Is anything meant to be? How much in our life is determined by chance? And perhaps, most compellingly: Is there such a thing as a soul mate?

Hannah believes there is. And, in both worlds, she believes she’s found him.

From the acclaimed author of Daisy Jones & The Six and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, this breathtaking novel focuses on a young woman whose fate hinges on the choice she makes after bumping into an old flame; in alternating chapters, we see two possible scenarios unfold � with stunningly different results.]]> 354 Taylor Jenkins Reid Karen 3 3.88 2015 Maybe in Another Life
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: Karen
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2015
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/26
date added: 2024/09/27
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]]> <![CDATA[Birder Murder Mysteries 4-Book Bundle: A Shimmer of Hummingbirds / A Cast of Falcons / A Pitying of Doves / and 1 more (A Birder Murder Mystery)]]> 34657478


A Siege of Bitterns
Inspector Domenic Jejeune’s success has made him a poster boy for the U.K. police service. The problem is Jejeune doesn’t really want to be a detective at all; he much prefers watching birds. Recently reassigned to the small Norfolk town of Saltmarsh in the heart of Britain’s premier birding country, Jejeune’s worlds collide when he investigates the grisly murder of a prominent ecological activist. To unravel this mystery, Jejeune must deal with unwelcome public acclaim, the mistrust of colleagues, and his own insecurities. In the case of the Saltmarsh birder murders, the victims may not be the only casualties.


A Pitying of Doves
Why would a killer ignore expensive jewellery and take a pair of turtledoves as the only bounty. This is only one of the questions that piques Jejeune’s interest after a senior attaché with the Mexican Consulate is found murdered alongside the director of a local bird sanctuary. The fact that the director’s death has opened up a full-time research position studying birds hasn’t eluded Jejeune either. Could this be the escape from policing that the celebrated detective has been seeking?


A Cast of Falcons
A man falling to his death from a remote cliff sets off a high-stakes chase for Inspector Domenic Jejeune, who must protect his fugitive brother and pursue a maddening foe, while any misstep could bring down wrath from above on Jejeune, his family, and the entire police force.


A Shimmer of Hummingbirds
The desperate departure of his fugitive brother has left Chief Inspector Jejeune rattled, and those around him nursing lingering suspicions. When evidence surfaces that may prove his brother’s innocence, Jejeune decides to take a leave of absence to pursue it. But his replacement looks as if he may want the position to be more than temporary.]]> 1472 Steve Burrows 1459739787 Karen 4 4.23 Birder Murder Mysteries 4-Book Bundle: A Shimmer of Hummingbirds / A Cast of Falcons / A Pitying of Doves / and 1 more (A Birder Murder Mystery)
author: Steve Burrows
name: Karen
average rating: 4.23
book published:
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/09/26
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]]> When We Were Friends 217107993 From New York Times bestselling author Jane Green comes a riveting story about a friendship that turns ugly when a woman realizes her new best friend is not what she seems.

By all accounts, Lucy’s handled her divorce well. She’s finally in the cozy, plant-filled house of her dreams. And although she doesn’t fit in with the other divorcées—all busy looking for their next ex—she’s excited to get down to earth and savor the small joys of life.

When Lucy meets Elle, a hip younger woman who shares her same passions, their connection is instant. Taking a chance on kismet, Lucy forges a friendship that fills her days with meaning. She and Elle are inseparable, from sunup to sundown, enjoying the immediate ease and familiarity of each other’s company.

But as Lucy introduces Elle to her circle, a new side of her friend appears. And try as she might, Lucy can’t ignore her misgivings. Who is Elle really? And can their all-consuming friendship survive closer inspection?]]> 44 Jane Green 1662518897 Karen 0 3.45 2024 When We Were Friends
author: Jane Green
name: Karen
average rating: 3.45
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2024/09/23
date added: 2024/09/23
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]]> The God of the Woods 199698485 When a teenager vanishes from her Adirondack summer camp, two worlds collide

Early morning, August 1975: a camp counselor discovers an empty bunk. Its occupant, Barbara Van Laar, has gone missing. Barbara isn’t just any thirteen-year-old: she’s the daughter of the family that owns the summer camp and employs most of the region’s residents. And this isn’t the first time a Van Laar child has disappeared. Barbara’s older brother similarly vanished fourteen years ago, never to be found.

As a panicked search begins, a thrilling drama unfolds. Chasing down the layered secrets of the Van Laar family and the blue-collar community working in its shadow, Moore’s multi-threaded story invites readers into a rich and gripping dynasty of secrets and second chances. It is Liz Moore’s most ambitious and wide-reaching novel yet.]]> 490 Liz Moore Karen 5 4.15 2024 The God of the Woods
author: Liz Moore
name: Karen
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/09/22
date added: 2024/09/22
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]]> The Jackal's Mistress 214537772 In this Civil War love story, inspired by a real-life friendship across enemy lines, the wife of a missing Confederate soldier discovers a wounded Yankee officer and must decide what she’s willing to risk for the life of a stranger, from the New York Times bestselling author of such acclaimed historical fiction as Hour of the Witch and The Sandcastle Girls.

Virginia, 1864—Libby Steadman’s husband has been away for so long that she can barely conjure his voice in her dreams. While she longs for him in the night, fearing him dead in a Union prison camp, her days are spent running a gristmill with her teenage niece, a hired hand, and his wife, all the grain they can produce requisitioned by the Confederate Army. It’s an uneasy life in the Shenandoah Valley, the territory frequently changing hands, control swinging back and forth like a pendulum between North and South, and Libby awakens every morning expecting to see her land a battlefield.
And then she finds a gravely injured Union officer left for dead in a neighbor’s house, the bones of his hand and leg shattered. Captain Jonathan Weybridge of the Vermont Brigade is her enemy � but he’s also a human being, and Libby must make a terrible decision: Does she leave him to die alone? Or does she risk treason and try to nurse him back to health? And if she succeeds, does she try to secretly bring him across Union lines, where she might negotiate a trade for news of her own husband?
A vivid and sweeping story of two people navigating the boundaries of love and humanity in a landscape of brutal violence, The Jackal’s Mistress is a heart-stopping new novel, based on a largely unknown piece of American history, from one of our greatest storytellers.]]> 336 Chris Bohjalian 0385547641 Karen 0 to-read 4.10 2025 The Jackal's Mistress
author: Chris Bohjalian
name: Karen
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/14
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]]> <![CDATA[The Trespasser (Dublin Murder Squad, #6)]]> 29470866 A brilliant new novel from the New York Times bestselling author, whom Gillian Flynn calls "mesmerizing" and Stephen King calls "incandescent."


Being on the Murder squad is nothing like Detective Antoinette Conway dreamed it would be. Her partner, Stephen Moran, is the only person who seems glad she’s there. The rest of her working life is a stream of thankless cases, vicious pranks, and harassment. Antoinette is savagely tough, but she’s getting close to the breaking point.

Their new case looks like yet another by-the-numbers lovers� quarrel gone bad. Aislinn Murray is blond, pretty, groomed to a shine, and dead in her catalogue-perfect living room, next to a table set for a romantic dinner. There’s nothing unusual about her—except that Antoinette’s seen her somewhere before.

And that her death won’t stay in its neat by-numbers box. Other detectives are trying to push Antoinette and Steve into arresting Aislinn’s boyfriend, fast. There’s a shadowy figure at the end of Antoinette's road. Aislinn's friend is hinting that she knew Aislinn was in danger. And everything they find out about Aislinn takes her further from the glossy, passive doll she seemed to be.

Antoinette knows the harassment has turned her paranoid, but she can’t tell just how far gone she is. Is this case another step in the campaign to force her off the squad, or are there darker currents flowing beneath its polished surface?]]> 464 Tana French 073522109X Karen 5 4.17 2016 The Trespasser (Dublin Murder Squad, #6)
author: Tana French
name: Karen
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2024/09/09
date added: 2024/09/09
shelves:
review:

]]> The Blue Hour 207252770
Once home to Vanessa: A famous artist whose notoriously unfaithful husband disappeared twenty years ago.

Now home to Grace: A solitary creature of the tides, content in her own isolation.

But when a shocking discovery is made in an art gallery far away in London, a visitor comes calling.

And the secrets of Eris threaten to emerge . . .

A masterful novel that is as page-turning as it is unsettling, The Blue Hour recalls the sophisticated suspense of Shirley Jackson and Patricia Highsmith, and cements Hawkins’s place among the very best of our most nuanced and stylish storytellers.]]> 320 Paula Hawkins 0063396521 Karen 0 to-read 3.27 2024 The Blue Hour
author: Paula Hawkins
name: Karen
average rating: 3.27
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Tell Me Everything (Amgash, #5)]]> 204811915 People) of a novel about new friendships, old loves, and the very human desire to leave a mark on the world.

With her remarkable insight into the human condition and silences that contain multitudes, Elizabeth Strout returns to the town of Crosby, Maine, and to her beloved cast of characters—Lucy Barton, Olive Kitteridge, Bob Burgess, and more—as they deal with a shocking crime in their midst, fall in love and yet choose to be apart, and grapple with the question, as Lucy Barton puts it, “What does anyone’s life mean?�

It’s autumn in Maine, and the town lawyer Bob Burgess has become enmeshed in an unfolding murder investigation, defending a lonely, isolated man accused of killing his mother. He has also fallen into a deep and abiding friendship with the acclaimed writer Lucy Barton, who lives down the road in a house by the sea with her ex-husband, William. Together, Lucy and Bob go on walks and talk about their lives, their fears and regrets, and what might have been. Lucy, meanwhile, is finally introduced to the iconic Olive Kitteridge, now living in a retirement community on the edge of town. They spend afternoons together in Olive’s apartment, telling each other stories. Stories about people they have known—“unrecorded lives,� Olive calls them—reanimating them, and, in the process, imbuing their lives with meaning.

Brimming with empathy and pathos, Tell Me Everything is Elizabeth Strout operating at the height of her powers, illuminating the ways in which our relationships keep us afloat. As Lucy says, “Love comes in so many different forms, but it is always love.”]]> 326 Elizabeth Strout 0593446097 Karen 0 to-read 3.98 2024 Tell Me Everything (Amgash, #5)
author: Elizabeth Strout
name: Karen
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/02
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]]> <![CDATA[The Bullet That Missed (Thursday Murder Club, #3)]]> 59852739
Then a new foe pays Elizabeth a visit. Her mission? Kill or be killed. Suddenly the cold case has become red hot.

While Elizabeth wrestles with her conscience (and a gun), Joyce, Ron, and Ibrahim chase down the clues with help from old friends and new. But can the gang solve the mystery and save Elizabeth before the murderer strikes again?

From an upmarket spa to a prison cell complete with espresso machine to a luxury penthouse high in the sky, this third adventure of the Thursday Murder Club is full of the cleverness, intrigue, and irresistible charm that readers have come to expect from Richard Osman's bestselling series.]]> 342 Richard Osman 059329940X Karen 5 4.53 2022 The Bullet That Missed (Thursday Murder Club, #3)
author: Richard Osman
name: Karen
average rating: 4.53
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/26
date added: 2024/08/26
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]]> <![CDATA[Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures]]> 52668915
Neither plant nor animal, it is found throughout the earth, the air and our bodies. It can be microscopic, yet also accounts for the largest organisms ever recorded, living for millennia and weighing tens of thousands of tonnes. Its ability to digest rock enabled the first life on land, it can survive unprotected in space, and thrives amidst nuclear radiation.

In this captivating adventure, Merlin Sheldrake explores the spectacular and neglected world of fungi: endlessly surprising organisms that sustain nearly all living systems. They can solve problems without a brain, stretching traditional definitions of ‘intelligence�, and can manipulate animal behaviour with devastating precision. In giving us bread, alcohol and life-saving medicines, fungi have shaped human history, and their psychedelic properties, which have influenced societies since antiquity, have recently been shown to alleviate a number of mental illnesses. The ability of fungi to digest plastic, explosives, pesticides and crude oil is being harnessed in break-through technologies, and the discovery that they connect plants in underground networks, the ‘Wood Wide Web�, is transforming the way we understand ecosystems. Yet they live their lives largely out of sight, and over ninety percent of their species remain undocumented.

Entangled Life is a mind-altering journey into this hidden kingdom of life, and shows that fungi are key to understanding the planet on which we live, and the ways we think, feel and behave. The more we learn about fungi, the less makes sense without them.]]> 352 Merlin Sheldrake 0525510311 Karen 0 to-read 4.34 2020 Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures
author: Merlin Sheldrake
name: Karen
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/19
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]]> The Paradise Problem 199897857
Anna Green thought she was marrying Liam “West� Weston for access to subsidized family housing while at UCLA. She also thought she’d signed divorce papers when the graduation caps were tossed, and they both went on their merry ways.

Three years later, Anna is a starving artist living paycheck to paycheck while West is a Stanford professor. He may be one of four heirs to the Weston Foods conglomerate, but he has little interest in working for the heartless corporation his family built from the ground up. He is interested, however, in his one-hundred-million-dollar inheritance. There’s just one catch.

Due to an antiquated clause in his grandfather’s will, Liam won’t see a penny until he’s been happily married for five years. Just when Liam thinks he’s in the home stretch, pressure mounts from his family to see this mysterious spouse, and he has no choice but to turn to the one person he’s afraid to introduce to his one-percenter parents—his unpolished, not-so-ex-wife.

But in the presence of his family, Liam’s fears quickly shift from whether the feisty, foul-mouthed, paint-splattered Anna can play the part to whether the toxic world of wealth will corrupt someone as pure of heart as his surprisingly grounded and loyal wife. Liam will have to ask himself if the price tag on his flimsy cover story is worth losing true love that sprouted from a lie.]]> 352 Christina Lauren Karen 3 4.19 2024 The Paradise Problem
author: Christina Lauren
name: Karen
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/08/15
date added: 2024/08/15
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]]> Funny You Should Ask 58065414 Then. Twentysomething writer Chani Horowitz is stuck. While her former MFA classmates are nabbing book deals, she's in the trenches writing puff pieces. Then she's hired to write a profile of movie star Gabe Parker. The Gabe Parker--her forever celebrity crush, the object of her fantasies, the background photo on her phone--who's also just been cast as the new James Bond. It's terrifying and thrilling all at once... yet if she can keep her cool and nail the piece, it could be a huge win. Gabe will get good press, and her career will skyrocket. But what comes next proves to be life-changing in ways Chani never saw coming, as the interview turns into a whirlwind weekend that has the tabloids buzzing.

Now. Ten years later, after a brutal divorce and a heavy dose of therapy, Chani is back in Los Angeles, laser-focused on one thing: her work. But she's still spent the better part of the last decade getting asked about her deeply personal Gabe Parker profile at every turn. No matter what new essay collection or viral editorial she's promoting, it always comes back to Gabe. So when his PR team requests that they reunite for a second interview, she wants to say no. She wants to pretend that she's forgotten about the time they spent together, years ago. But the truth is that those seventy-two hours are still crystal clear, etched in her memory. And so... he says yes.

Chani knows that facing Gabe again also means facing feelings she's tried so hard to push away. Alternating between their first meeting and their reunion a decade later, this deliciously irresistible novel will have you hanging on until the last word.

A restless young journalist with big dreams interviews a Hollywood heartthrob--and, ten years later, it's clear that their time together meant more than meets the eye in this sexy, engrossing adult debut novel. ]]> 352 Elissa Sussman 0593357329 Karen 0 to-read 3.55 2022 Funny You Should Ask
author: Elissa Sussman
name: Karen
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World]]> 40672036
In this timely and enlightening book, the bestselling author of Deep Work introduces a philosophy for technology use that has already improved countless lives.

Digital minimalists are all around us. They're the calm, happy people who can hold long conversations without furtive glances at their phones. They can get lost in a good book, a woodworking project, or a leisurely morning run. They can have fun with friends and family without the obsessive urge to document the experience. They stay informed about the news of the day, but don't feel overwhelmed by it. They don't experience "fear of missing out" because they already know which activities provide them meaning and satisfaction.

Now, Newport gives us a name for this quiet movement, and makes a persuasive case for its urgency in our tech-saturated world. Common sense tips, like turning off notifications, or occasional rituals like observing a digital sabbath, don't go far enough in helping us take back control of our technological lives, and attempts to unplug completely are complicated by the demands of family, friends and work. What we need instead is a thoughtful method to decide what tools to use, for what purposes, and under what conditions.

Drawing on a diverse array of real-life examples, from Amish farmers to harried parents to Silicon Valley programmers, Newport identifies the common practices of digital minimalists and the ideas that underpin them. He shows how digital minimalists are rethinking their relationship to social media, rediscovering the pleasures of the offline world, and reconnecting with their inner selves through regular periods of solitude. He then shares strategies for integrating these practices into your life, starting with a thirty-day "digital declutter" process that has already helped thousands feel less overwhelmed and more in control.

Technology is intrinsically neither good nor bad. The key is using it to support your goals and values, rather than letting it use you. This book shows the way.]]> 302 Cal Newport 052553654X Karen 0 return-to 4.06 2019 Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World
author: Cal Newport
name: Karen
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/06
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]]> Project Hail Mary 54493401
Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.

All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it’s up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery—and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.

And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he’s got to do it all alone.

Or does he?]]> 476 Andy Weir 0593135202 Karen 0 2024-reading-list, return-to 4.49 2021 Project Hail Mary
author: Andy Weir
name: Karen
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/06
shelves: 2024-reading-list, return-to
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]]> One Wrong Word 126919095 A heart-racing new psychological thriller from USA Today bestselling and multiple award-winning author, Hank Phillippi Ryan.

One wrong word can ruin your life. And no one knows that better than savvy crisis management expert Arden Ward. Problem is, she's now forced to handle a shocking crisis of her own. Unfairly accused of having an affair with a powerful client, Arden’s life and dreams are about to crash and burn. Then, Arden is given an ultimatum. She has just two weeks to save her career and her reputation.

Is Cordelia Bannister the answer to her prayers?

Cordelia needs Arden’s help for her husband Ned, a Boston real estate mogul. Though he was recently acquitted in a fatal drunk driving accident, his reputation is ruined, and the fallout is devastating not only to the Bannisters' lives, but the lives of their two adorable children.

Arden devotes her skill and determination—and maybe her final days on the job—to helping this shattered family, but soon, revelations begin to emerge about what really happened the night of the accident. And then—another car crash throws Ned back into the spotlight.

This case is Arden’s final chance to protect her own future and clear her name. But the more she tries to untangle the truth, the more she’s haunted by one disturbing question—what if she’s also protecting a killer?

Gossip. Lies. Rumors. Words like that can hurt you. And Arden knows the reality. Sometimes one wrong word can kill.]]> 338 Hank Phillippi Ryan 1250849527 Karen 0 return-to 3.90 2024 One Wrong Word
author: Hank Phillippi Ryan
name: Karen
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2024/07/07
date added: 2024/08/06
shelves: return-to
review:

]]>